Dont understand why airlines wouldnt honor tickets like that.

- We did pay money for the ticket, so it wasnt free and the amount is a decent amount, not like $50.

- If there was no such ticket "sale", they wouldnt have us on the flights anyway so there was no "lost revenue".
Im not inclined to believe their F/C cabins would be totally full with paying pax.

- Cost of transporting an additional pax or two is negligible. The plane is going to take off anyway, whether 1 or 2 extra people are on it or not.

- By trying to not honor the tickets, they just cause themselves trouble and bad PR. If they honor the tickets, people travel on them and like them, they get good PR and possible future revenue.

Basically, it is a win-win situation for all if handled properly.