Decided recently to fly for fun in the sun instead of work on the run.

Need to do ORD(MKE,MDW ok) to TPA area 3/27. Using Kayak and .bomb and looks like most flights are full. Certainly prices are steep the past week or so.

A few questions

1. I know there are other sites or softwares one can use to see seats and flights more efficiently than .bomb. What is your favorite? Would prefer a shallower learning curve for my shallow mind. Wouldn't mind a modest fee.

2. Looking to turn lemons into lemonade, I am thinking of buying seats with the hope of getting bumped. Usually I go for cheapo economy on this sort of flight, but most of the good flights time wise only have unrestricted coach fares left. But I am thinking that I could stomach the difference if I snag decent comp for getting bumped. Also, if you purchase F seats, what is the liklihood of getting bumped if you volunteer? Finally how much negoiating can you do for the comp?

Thanks all.