"If airlines can't get passengers to switch of their own volition, they're allowed to bump fliers involuntarily.In 2015, 46,000 travelers were involuntarily bumped from flights, according to data from the Department of Transportation"...from a CNN piece on the incident
I thought the economist Julian Simon's theory of sealed bids at the gate by shiny, happy overbooked passengers for compensation was supposed to completely eliminate involuntary bumping. Sounds like the concept has been watered down(vouchers!!?), misapplied and has led to sloppy thinking.
Maybe new technology (internet, mobile phones) could enable a genuine sealed bidding system with instant genuine money payout by Paypal, but it needs to be done strictly at the gate not on the plane! (Pilots and Flight Attendant unions should be banning any onboard haggling) And airlines/regulators need to face the possibility that just occasionally the system won't generate volunteers...so what then?