Isn't this what escrow accounts exist for? The airline shouldn't hold your money in the interim, someone else does. If the airline cancels, you get it back, if you fly or otherwise breach the contract (no show, cancel your ticket) then they get it.
It's basically insurance at this point, but someone just has to set up a company that buys your ticket for you and handles the legal cases (eg they pay out to you and start a reconciliation process with the airline) in the event of a default from either side.
I'm generally against making regulations that introduce mandatory middlemen, unless absolutely necessary. It entrenches a type on company into a field while generally failing to allow them to be optimized away if a better solution is later found.
But as a general option that someone could create a company for, it sounds like a good idea if its profitable.
It's basically insurance at this point, but someone just has to set up a company that buys your ticket for you and handles the legal cases (eg they pay out to you and start a reconciliation process with the airline) in the event of a default from either side.