Opus17, you miss the point, no airline would ever put elites at the top of the list UNLESS THEY VOLUNTEERED! This thread, being about vol. bumbs, means these people are volunteering for the bump, so the question asked is, does an elite on XXYY Airline get priority for the bump when the elite volunteers... Perhaps they are an elite on a mileage run, or with time to spare, and would gladly spend a bit more time at teh airport to have the next personal trip, mileage run, etc, funded by the airline (plus there are many times when a bumped passenger may arrive earlier or within a few minutes of the original itinerary, e.g. connecting flights bumped to direct, etc).

RE topic of the thread, I don't think it is possible to do it for a living, I mean the airlines almost always give vouchers not cash, so unless you were selling the vouchers or selling the miles, there would be no cash in hand to eat once teh meal vouchers for the bumb were used. IT would be a great way to fund some expensive air tickets.