How is overbooking flights legal?

[TurboTrout]

I’ve always wondered (yeah I know lobbying crooked politicians and all) how overbooking a flight, where you sell more seats than the airline has on the plane, is legal and not fraud.

If I knowingly write a check for more money than I have, it’s not allowed

Seems overbooking should be illegal.

 

[UKDslayer]

When you purchase a ticket its somewhere in fine print you can be bumped. One of the worst cases I saw on the A&E SW "highlights" was a 6 member family who purchased non-stop tickets six month in advance for an extended family reunion in Disneyworld or Universal Studios (non-refundable) got bumped. If I purchase six month in advance I'd be extra pissed.

 

[Cardboard55]

"lobbying crooked politicians"

 

[TurboTrout]

When you purchase a ticket its somewhere in fine print you can be bumped. One of the worst cases I saw on the A&E SW "highlights" was a 6 member family who purchased non-stop tickets six month in advance for an extended family reunion in Disneyworld or Universal Studios (non-refundable) got bumped. If I purchase six month in advance I'd be extra pissed.

Fine print or not, should not be legal IMHO

 

[Cardboard55]

Fine print or not, should not be legal IMHO

I'd like to see fine print abolished. If there are terms and conditions, they should be the same size as everything else in any document.

Same for speeding them up at the end of any commercial. Unintelligible by design. I'd ban that too.