“Being in the industry I’ve read that and it goes back to when people were booking seats on different flights but not actually paying for them until they arrive at the check-in desk so airlines were flying with empty non-revenue seats.”
However, if airlines sold seats and made them non-refundable the people would bitch even louder.
They do. There are three categories of seats to purchase and the cheapest ones are non-refundable. You can buy refundable seats but they’re the premium ones.