Just to clarify further for those of you who are not aware:

The new compensation methods for oversold flights started back in July. It is not a set dollar amount per flight that will not change. The dollar amount for each particular flight is set by revenue management, and is based on a number of factors. The demand for that particular route (i.e. is there a conference or convention of some sort at that destination that is causing an increase in travelers and might make it harder to get volunteers?), the day of the week, the average cost of the ticket for that destination at that time of the year, holidays, etc. Once the compensation amount has been determined by revenue management, it is set in stone for that particular flight, and that is what the agent will announce in order to get volunteers.

Rarely have I seen this compensation amount to be under $300 for any destination, and for flights of longer stage length, it is often much more. This new compensation method is better in a number of ways over the free roundtrip options. The most obvious way, is that you no longer have to be booked in a certain class of service and hope there is availability to be booked on a flight. You have the dollar amount to use, and it is used just like cash and can be used toward a purchase in any class of service.

Also, as far as I know you can also redeem miles now using these vouchers. I could be wrong on that last part, but the tickets are not booked in X class any longer, and I believe you can redeem miles.

Anyway, hope this helps explain things more clearly.