Airline Bumping

There’s some nice information here about how to maximize your chances of getting bumped from airline flights for compensation, if that’s what you’re into.  (I am into it actually, but my wife sadly is not.)  I was alarmed, though, to see this paragraph:

In November, Delta added a new twist by accepting bids from passengers willing to give up their seats on oversold flights.  At a check-in kiosk, for example, passengers can input the dollar amount they would accept for volunteering to be bumped.  But they could end up being outbid by a passenger who is willing to accept less for giving up a seat.

Agh.  I always feared this might happen—stupid economic ideas working their way into the system to prevent me from flying free to Fiji. 

But I’ve actually flown Delta a couple of times since November—twice when they bumped people—and didn’t see this in action.  Curious.