I completely disagree. By volunteering, you would be doing Continental a bigger favor. If you are bumped, you deserve compensation.

Still, I certainly wouldn't count on getting bumped. Have you called Continental to ask them if your flight is overbooked? As part of their customer committment, they will give you a yes or no answer as to whether or not the flight is overbooked.

If the flight is not overbooked, you may ask about getting put on the LAX flight anyway. Sometimes you'll get an agent who will accomodate such a request.