Time to change airline rules for no-shows, disallow overbooking

It is time, following the United Airlines incident, to change the airline rules for prepaid tickets (Solving the problem of overbooked flights; April 18).

Overbooking should not be allowed; it is not as if seats are pre-booked and pending payment.

In regard to the sale of a seat when there is a no-show, airlines are technically selling a seat that has been sold; the seat on that flight belongs to the passenger who could not fly for whatever reason.

Having that clause and allowing overbooking shows that customer service is not the airlines’ priority. Imagine having to reschedule one’s travel plans or business meetings because of overbooking.

Given the recent fiasco, I hope the ticketing rules could be changed. Airlines can then say that maintaining quality service for their passengers is their priority.