They could offer cash/miles to whoever volunteered, increasing the offer until someone accepted. I've seen other airlines do this on several occasions. They couldn't have handled it worse than they did.
1) $400
2) $800
3 and final) Leave the airplane or we'll beat the shit out of you.
Glad I made the decision to not fly United 4 years ago.
I find it hard to believe no one volunteered, even for a small amount, unless they were already delayed
It'd be interesting to see statistics on how often these offers are even redeemed.
Note the weasel wording. I don't actually know.
To be clear, every flight is overbooked.
The airlines have run the numbers, and it is clearly more profitable to sell (for example) 105% of the plane, and then if more than 100% show up, pay people off to take a different flight.
I guess the op's question is, why was it not done here?
(Sadly) Everyone has a price for everything. Obviously that guy's price was not met. As you say, the airline has done the math... does their math include the cost of dragging a passenger bruised and bleeding off of their plane? Probably... Does it include the cost of cameras capturing the whole thing? Probably not.
Who's to say that this man's price was the lowest price? Turn it into a bidding process, the lowest 5 bids on the plane get paid, and the airline gets their seats.
The potential for misuse is not a good excuse for accepting negative actions.
On one hand, infrastructure costs for idle capacity would/could become cost prohibitive. On the other hand, the provider should be held aaccountable for their failing to provide reasonable uptime/service.
But flights fill up every day. When they do, airlines maximize profit.
Hmmmmm....