This isn't so much badassity as just good luck coming from opportunity. But I am posting in the hopes that some other reader takes advantage of this in the future. On the way home from a work conference in Nashville the airline I was flying discovered it was overbooked. While my seat was assured, they offered $300 in air fare, good for one year, if someone were willing to change their flight plans. I had never done this before but I had nothing but time to kill so I thought what the hell, I'll check it out. I explained to the ticket agent that I was going home to Richmond, and the ticket agent found me another flight that was due to land in Richmond a half hour later if I routed through a different city (there are no direct flights between these two cities).
Um, yeah, sure, a half hour of time is worth a free flight to me, sign me up! The ticket agent said I would need to wait and make sure there weren't any no-shows that would free up a seat, so I stood by and figuratively crossed my fingers that the flight would be full. Shwing, full flight, and I have been assigned to another plane!
When the ticket agent gave me my new tickets he mentioned I was in luck, I would be flying in the front of the plane. Since my original seats were in the back of the plane I thought he meant I'd be closer to the front. OK, nice, I'm not all that excited about that part. Then I get the tickets and discover that "front of the plane" was just another way of saying I had been bumped to first class. And man-oh-man, as someone who has never flown first class, that was some kind of nice. A few complimentary beverages, a nice meal, a big seat, and a warm cookie baked fresh on the plane later and I arrive in Richmond happy as a clam with a $300 voucher in my pocket for the, ahem, effort.
Sadly, my baggage didn't follow me, it stayed on the original plane. Which was ultimately delayed and landed 10 minutes after I touched in Richmond....
If you get the chance to do this, don't assume you will be losing hours or even your entire flight if you switch, you may very well have options like I did.