A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,403
I don't think it's feasible to require that everyone who boards always travels on the flight:
Mistakes can happen, such as duplicate boarding passes. Rare but not impossible.
Broken seats can be discovered after boarding.
Even UA 3411. If it's true that the deadheading crew was properly booked onto the flight more than an hour in advance, then what do the rules say should happen if either the information wasn't communicated to the GAs or if they mistakenly didn't notice it until boarding was complete. I don't understand how the new rules would handle the situation.
In fact, thinking about cases where there are simply more passengers that have boarded (ignoring anyone who can travel as a lap infant for simplicity) than there are useable seats, would UA just say that it would be a safety issue for two individuals to occupy the same seat and therefore boot remove someone under that allowed cause?