[jimworcs]

This is in fact what some loco's do. Ryanair in Europe does this and claims not to ever overbook, although some of their employee's have suggested that they are lying when they make this claim. In fact, on low cost carriers such as Jetblue, the occassional loss of a ticket would more than be made up by the savings on the lower fares. Some of the fares charged for business class and for full price coach are so high as to be utterly unrelated to the costs involved. My main objection is the sheer unfairness of the contract terms, in favour of the airline.

If the passenger is late, there is no leeway given. But the airlines appears able to abrogate their obligation with little consequence. It is utterly unbalanced against the consumer.