I'm a pretty staunch libertarian and even I can see the benefit here. Until we reach the border-less, one-world utopia that so many people seem to be gunning for, it's valuable to know who is coming/going from your country.
This is the reality in large parts of EU, I've flown several times without having my real name on the ticket.
Hell, when I fly private it's even better. Show up at airport, meet pilot, get on the plane, hand the pilot a pile of cash. No passport control or security at any point, and this isn't just EU.
So far no massive disasters have resulted from this.
I did fly in SE Asia a few times where no ID was required and the name didn't have to match.
Yeah, those are the rules. However, the only place where your passport and ticket will be compared is at the gate and they certainly never look very carefully.
For domestic flights, there's no reason tickets can't be anonymous. Here in Japan tickets are sold cash and there are no ID checks on flights and the country seems to be doing fine on the security front.
You can board a (domestic) plane in Japan without giving your name?
People can already do this when boarding a bus, boarding a train or riding in a taxi.
You could drive, but you will almost certainly pass some ALPR cameras.
There is no anonymous long-distance transportation in the US.
Yes.
But this is separate from airline tickets, passenger manifests, etc.