Delta is already changing their policy.
"The company's customer service agents are now authorized to offer up to $2,000 for voluntary denied boardings. The previous normal limit had been only $800.
In some cases, compensation is now allowed to reach $9,950, though Delta has a number of rules — including authorization from superiors — before agents can go up that high. Until the bulletin took effect on Friday, the maximum payout had been capped at $1,350."
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/15/delta-says-it-will-pay-passengers-up-to-nearly-10000-to-leave-seats-on-overbooked-flights.html
They didn't have to take anybody off. The flight was fully booked but they wanted to get 2 pilots and 2 flight attendant to Louisville for the next day's flight. They could have gotten those employees there some other way. There is no federal policy preventing that.
Yes the policy is in the fine prints. But going forward other airlines are starting to change their policy to accomodate this. United might decide to sit on their hands and do nothing - we'll see. But if they do that they're dumb. Business is all about adapting yourself to the ever changing world around you. If United doesn't adapt but others do, they will fall behind.
I get that your business relates to growing potatoes and people have been doing that for hundreds of years and there has been no significant change. But the airline business needs to change to adapt to technology, to customers' lifestyles and preference, to competing with other competitors, it is an ever changing industry, unlike the farming industry that you're in.
Again, the incident has passed. I'm no longer talking about that. I'm talking about going forward what is the best policy so as not to let this sort of situation happen again. There are many other ways and other airlines are starting to implement that.
