[tigershark]

Ah so now it's up to the passenger to solve the problem for united finding a volunteer. I propose also that you should give them your a*se in case they ask for it. As for the cancellation if instead of the wedding there was a funeral you would ask the deceased to schedule better his own death I guess. It's really astonishing how there are people perfectly willing to give away all their rights while thanking for it with a smile.

[koenigdavidmj]

What we're getting at here is that even after-the-fact remedies in civil court are not a sufficient answer for you, since a large check doesn't get you there in time. Is there anything short of making it a criminal offense for airline personnel not to provide your flight once you're on board (edge cases about misbehavior and canceled flights aside)?

(And yes, the idea that others have the right to compel my labor, on pain of prison, scares me. It also would make me very hesitant to be a pilot and express any concerns about the airworthiness of the plane I'm flying.)

[ubernostrum]

It's interesting that what people really seem to want is a reasonable roll-back of some of the more egregious ways in which this airline and its crew members behaved, but the strawman you're arguing with is a caricature of what would happen if instead crew members were to be treated as egregiously as passengers currently are.