If someone buys a non-refundable ticket, and has to cancel their trip at the last moment, the airplane flies with one empty seat, and uses a little less fuel and still gets paid for that seat.

BUT, if they hedge their bets by overbooking then they can charge twice for the same seat...

Now a rabid capitalist shill would say "BUT if you force the airline to stop this practice then the cost of a ticket will go up for everyone!"

But do you REALLY think that extra profit is going towards reducing the cost of airfare? REALLY?

If so, then you are a special kind of stupid....

http://fortune.com/2017/04/13/united-airlines-oscar-munoz-bonus/

United CEO Oscar Munoz's bonus might be a little light this year thanks to the airline's most recent controversy.
About $500,000 of Munoz's bonus is tied to customer satisfaction surveys, Bloomberg reports. United collects approximately 8,000 surveys from customers about the carrier's service each day. Given the outrage surrounding Munoz's response to a recent video that shows passenger Dr. David Dao being dragged off a plane — some customers were literally cutting up their loyalty cards — these surveys going forward don't look promising.
Elsewhere, customers have left poor reviews for the airline on both their iOS app and Yelp. On social media, users called for a boycott.
United also took a hit on the stock market this week, though the initial drop at the height of the outrage has since recovered.Munoz has a 2016 target compensation of over $14 million even without the $500,000 bonus, Bloomberg reported. The actual amount will be released later this month.