This incident is a good example of how our government works for big corporations rather than for us.  It's not just United.  The "security" rule to show I.D. at check-in was put in place so that we could not sell our tickets - that rule didn't help a bit with security back in Sept. 2001.  Seat width and legroom continue to shrink.  There are now "premium" seats in front of jetliner emergency exits (I remember when seats were not allowed in front of emergency exits.)  All the while tons of pollutants that airlines inject into the upper atmosphere go unregulated as the world's oceans become more acidic to the determent of our food supply.