Originally Posted by
STS-134
You can easily add contingencies to the app. I bid $X if I can get on flight Y. A pax could submit several bids, up to a "no contingencies" bid. So I might bid $200 if I can get on a flight that leaves 2 hours later, $1000 for a flight that leaves the next morning, up to a completely non contingent offer of either $5000 cash or a R/T F ticket to Asia.
I agree in theory this would be great, but in practice I am guessing 70+% of passengers would need the gate agents help in developing an alternative flight plan. You and I and most of the other FT posters would have no trouble coming up with a reasonable alternate flight plan to meet our needs, but we are in the minority of the general flying public.
And if you limit your bidding to only those who can develop a reasonable alternate flight plan, you have significantly limited the ability to find enough volunteers at a reasonable price. This why the GA must still be part of the process.