>>The airlines have to overbook because all the cancellations make it unprofitable if they don’t.
No they don’t. They simply need to charge people for their tickets, buy a seat, you get a seat. If you don’t show, you still pay for it - it is pretty simple actually.
Sounds like poor planning on United’s part and I hope this guy sues and wins some compensation, though I suspect the rules are stacked in the airlines favor.
People would complain about that too (being charged whether they get on the plan or not). All of this is longstanding practice and if you look at the terms of agreement on your ticket it clearly states that you may be bumped.
They don’t have to offer anything. They do that so that they don’t lose customers. Over long experience they have found a formula for dealing with no-shows vs overbooking and it usually works fine.