[ScottBurson]

I guess you think it's unfair because it's like a sealed-bid auction: passengers are required to submit a price without knowing other passengers' prices and with no information as to how badly the airline needs the seats. So most of the time, probably, the airline winds up paying less than it would have under the traditional system.

But in the case we're discussing here, United's offer wasn't sufficient to get them as many volunteers as they needed. So they would have had to pay someone more than usual. Seems like the right outcome to me.