Originally Posted by C17PSGR

Assuming you want to be IDB, I'm not sure how one can do that. AA always looks for volunteers first. I've volunteered a couple of times this year when it made sense. Both times, they didn't need the volunteers. On another time where they were looking for volunteers, I just asked the GA to put me on a flight that I preferred rather than wait to see what happened. I then headed for the club.

Seems to me I saw a priority list of how people get selected for IDB a while a go. I think it may even be in AA's published customer service plan. So ... if you're a no status customer, paying a low fare, and checking in at the last minute, you might be at risk on an overbooked/oversold flight. Since AA will be offering progressively larger vouchers to avoid IDB, I think the bigger risk for that customer is being stuck in a middle seat in Row 28 and having to gate check your bag!