<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LemonThrower:
From the airlines perspective, the point of requiring ID is to maximize revenue to the airline--not to provide any of the other benefits such as greater security or fraud protection.</font>
Even if we accept your assertion as true, so what? Tickets are not transferable, and therefore, if someone's trying to use another person's tickets, then this practice prevents someone from circumventing the rules that the rest of us play by. If someone steals my tickets, then he ought not to be able to fly with them, correct?
I personally don't care whether or not it is a revenue generator. If this prevents someone from abusing the system by using his coworker's tickets or by stealing someone's tickets and flying with them, the fact that it makes the airlines money is totally irrelevant.
After all, buying a ticket helps the airlines make money. So if you don't want to generate any revenue for them, don't fly.