Something of a shocker (at least to me)--

Couple days ago, daughter taking 0815 morning flight LAX-SFO. During OLCI, it asked about possible VDB, which she rejected because it didn't give any other flight options and she had to get to SFO that day. Plus I was flying LAX-IAD at the same time, and she didn't want to sit around LAX by herself to deal with any risk of IRROPS after I'd departed.

Her gate was next to mine, while we were standing there, near the group 1 boarding line, about 40 min before departure (just before boarding was to start) they made an announcement needing 3 volunteers for $1000 each.

We walked up, were 1st in line, and asked about what the later options might be, and explaining that my daughter's final destination was SFO, so no onward connection work needed. The GA's then were talking among themselves and 1 said it looked like 2 international arrivals were going to misconnect so they only needed 1 person; the GA talking to us then asked the other if she could pre-emptively remove my daughter from the flight and process the VDB before departure, because -- get this-- they could put her on a nonstop AA flight leaving at 0830.

I said she had a checked bag, and they said no problem, the bag would travel on the UA flight, she would just have to go to T3 at SFO to claim it. They processed the VDB for $1000, confirmed her on the AA flight, she was able to do on OLCI via the AA app, then went running off to T5 (thank goodness for the airside path!).

The AA flight left 13 min after the UA flight (BTW her AA plane was an E170, and all 3 other seats in her row were empty). She landed, took the train to T3, picked up her bag at UA; all told probably an extra 30 min compared to original itinerary, for $1000. Not too shabby. Wondering how common it is for them to pre-emptively remove a VDB from a flight before departure (esp if they think they just needed ONE person) instead of waiting till after boarding?

Here's the other strange part- the person behind us in line at the GA podium, while we were still waiting to talk to the GA about the VDB, was saying to others that she had volunteered on the app at checkin. But apparently the GA's had made no effort to contact those that had already volunteered, and once they processed my daughter's VDB, they didn't need anyone else (so I'm sure she wasn't too happy). So was it an anomaly that those that volunteered in advance were not given priority? If not, then just what's the point of volunteering at checkin if you need to still proactively get the the podium ASAP if they make an announcement asking for volunteers?