regarding planning for getting bumped intentionally:

there were a bunch of people a few years ago (including my brother) who would travel back and forth on southwest between phoenix & san diego on the weekend knowing that they could get bumped at least once.

to san diego on friday night and back to phoenix on sunday were always ridiculously overbooked. it was often possible to take a $49 or less "chicken feed" fare and parlay it into two or three free trips.


as for how airlines treat passengers using free tickets:

as long as you have checked in, have a booarding pass, and are at the gate, you have the same opportunity to volunteer as everyone else. so, if you're looking to get bumped, you're OK.

if you're looking to not get bumped, the news isn't so good. using a "non-rev" ticket, you have very little priority over other passengers, possibly only airline employees not traveling on business. one exception to this may be if you're an elite on the airline ...they may actually bump other paying passengers before you under the right circumstances.