Anyway, haven't been to the 'land of the free' for a while, so as a seperate question, does this still happen with the lower load factors of the last 18 months?
Load factors are pretty much back up where they used to be due to the reductions in capacity - all those planes in the desert. DBC is alive and well and there are some websites devoted to the 'strategy' of increasing your chances of getting some. I don't think they hand our ready cash any more, what you'll get is a voucher redeemable only for air travel and only on the same airline valid for 1 year.