Originally Posted by
dvlsadvc8
Air travel is not a right, it is a convenience. Like anything purchased, buyer beware. On the bright side, you do have the right to buy or charter a private aircraft to meet or exceed your travel requirements/expectations. If you can't afford that, never fear, other options are yet available. You can book passage via train or bus; even better, drive yourself. The likelihood of being "beaten, bullied, concussed, humiliated, or booted" from your private vehicle are slim to none.
In the general sense air travel is not a "right" in that I don't have the right to demand that United send a plane in to pick me up at my local airport (which they don't serve). Nothing is saying that any company
has to provide passenger air service...and if they didn't, we'd probably have a better rail network instead. Frankly I wish I lived in a world where that was more or less the case (yes, in theory I
can take the train...and in my case I very often do...but for many city pairs doing so isn't an option/isn't an option without a painfully long bus ride and for many others it isn't practical).
However, once I've paid United for a flight from A to B at a given time there also comes a point that they need to deliver. Why? Because I've purchased the right to that product in exchange for consideration (usually money).
Now, if I don't meet my terms of the contract (for example, timely check-in) they can deny transportation. I'm the one breaching the contract, technically. But if I check all of the boxes and they don't have a reason to breach beyond "Oops, we screwed up" then that's a problem if they choose to breach at the last minute. And if they try to load a clause into their contract saying, in essence, they can choose to do that without compensation then even absent the formal IDB rules I suspect their contracts would go out the window as being "unconscionable". As an analogy with retail, "buyer beware" does not apply if you sell me a lemon.
I get it, downgauged equipment can happen at the last minute because MX happens and weather happens. As noted in a few posts, weather alone can be enough (though in some cases I'd counter that an intermediate fuel stop would be the better option, I also know that there are city pairs that's not really an option for and other cases where that would be a logistical mess). That's why we need some form of rules to allow for IDB.
There's a difference between that sort of situation and "tactical overbooking", however, and that might be another differentiation to make in the IDB rules: If there's been a change of aircraft resulting in a loss of capacity or capacity has to be cut for other safety reasons, that's one thing. If the airline is playing the lottery on someone no-showing and they lose (or they "suddenly need more seats" for some reason), though, that's another.
The rub of all this is that there should be more scrutiny of IDB incidents and some limitations on when/where someone can be IDBed. I'd like to see a middle ground between the CAB-mismanaged situation in the 60s and 70s (where they slow-walked into irrelevance or shot-down new airline applications, among other things) and the post-ADA environment.