This would be somewhat complicated by having to specify which flight you are willing to be bumped onto - I would bid different amounts for a flight in two hours and a flight the next day at 2:55pm. The bid would have to include whether you want a hotel/meal for overnight bumps.


In general I think the IDB compensation formula needs to change to incent the airline to get the passenger on the next possible flight. Right now, the airline wins by pushing a bumped passenger to the next flight with unsold seats, in the case of 3411 that was to the 2:55pm departure... I suspect they wouldn't have had this issue if they were guaranteeing a seat on the first flight in the morning.

If the airline had to pay the IDB compensation amount for each subsequent departure that the passenger was not accomodated on, there would be an incentive to find a volunteer on the earlier flights. Then you're looking at several tubes of 70 possible volunteers, and the odds of finding someone with flexible plans goes up.