If it was overbooked those excess passengers weren't on the plane. United wanted to fly 4 of their own employees (who showed up after everyone was boarded and s

If it was overbooked those excess passengers weren't on the plane. United wanted to fly 4 of their own employees (who showed up after everyone was boarded and seated) and "asked" for 4 seats from boarded paying customers. Without the employee passengers they were not overbooked or any overbooked passengers were not on the plane and we're irrelevant to the situation. I have flown plenty of times with other airlines when they overbooked and asked for volunteers. They do it in the terminal before boarding starts and generally don't have any problem getting someone to take $800 to hang around for the next flight. In those cases: 1) the terminal attendant can tell you exactly when you'll be able to resume your flight 2) you can know whether or not the delay will have you sleeping in an airport and can negotiate for a hotel if necessary. In this case no one (and why would they) took them up on a game of $800 flight roulette, so they had security drag a random guy off the plane. It was ridiculous when they made some kids have a dress code and refused to let them fly. This, on the other hand, should be illegal.