Here's the question no one seems willing to answer:
If overbooking or whatever causes a need to bump someone (40,000 were last year) and the decision is made as to who needs to get off the plane....but that person then refused to leave...what then?
After pleading and whatnot, what force CAN be used?
I think that both passengers and employees are so frustrated and angry with each other these days, that it's easy for tempers to flare. I know this is going to make me sound old, but...
Up until the 90's, which doesn't seem so long ago, flying was relatively easy.
One could get dropped off at the curb, and after passing through the x-ray machine, head to the gate. You could be accompanied by someone who wasn't even traveling, who could hang out with you until your flight departed. In fact, lots of folks, me and my folks included, might go out to the airport and go to a restaurant or bar and watch the planes take off, no ticket or ID needed. On board, you could take a couple of carry-on bags, free of charge. You were entitled to a meal on flights over a certain length, again, free of charge.
Also, airports were smaller, and easier to get around in, and you could walk outside of many and easily get to your rental car.
Security started getting tighter after the Unibomber started terrorizing and threatening airliners. Suddenly, ID was required, along with a ticket, to get past security. One interesting by-product was that it killed the secondary ticket market, where people would sell tickets they couldn't use, and one would travel under the purchaser's name.
Airlines started managing their inventory so they could maximize profit. I remember when United cut one of their flights from SFO to Honolulu after realizing they were taking enough non-revenue (employees, their relatives, frequent flyer tickets, etc.) passengers per day to fill up a single plane. By cutting it out, they made it more difficult for non-rev flyers, and frustrated frequent flyers who had saved up points for that trip to Hawaii.
After 9/11, the Shoe Bomber, and a couple of airport attacks security got so tight, it was causing flight delays and flight misses.
Airlines started limiting carry-ons and charging for checked bags. Meals were no longer free. They started cramming more seats in per plane.
So, today, you're advised to get to the airport 2 hours before a flight, to account for traffic delays, parking and waiting for a shuttle or dropping off a car and waiting for a shuttle, checking your bags, getting through security, which includes taking off shoes, might included and turning on electronics. You may have your bottle of wine confiscated. Then you wait. You wait for the plane to arrive. You wait for them to call your group for boarding. You wait in the jetway. You wait while someone in row 5 tries to cram a bag into the overhead bins. You may find that you're not seated with your traveling companion, or that the overhead bins are full, or you're seated next to someone unpleasant. You wait for the plane to take off, and there's no air conditioning until you're in the air. You have to go to the bathroom.
There's usually a bit of fear as well over the safety and helplessness of being in a plane.
All of this is also frustrating to the employees that have to listen to a couple hundred complaints about the situation every day.
Anyway, after you go through all of that, you're told you have to get off the plane and won't be able to reach your destination, your job, your vacation, your cruise, until the next day, because they've got some employees on the 'must fly' list.
I guess that can be a bit irritating.
My wife and I were taking the kids to Disneyland some years ago, and we saw that the flight was scheduled for 90 minutes. It used to be an hour, but the airports and skies are crowded now.
To take an noon flight, we'd have to arrive at the airport at 10, which means leaving Folsom at 9 and fighting commute traffic. Our flight would arrive at 130, and after getting our bags, we might be getting on a shuttle to get a rent a car by 2pm. In the car by 230. At the hotel by 3, just in time to for check in. Total time, 6 hours.
We decided to drive. It took slightly longer, but it sure was less frustrating.
Air travel today sucks.