> but you can't argue that it is inherently bad.

You're simplifying things a bit too much.

You can't go from:

- We want to make air travel more cost effective, and less damaging to the environment.

And arrive at:

- The only way to achieve this, is to sell more tickets than we have physical seats for, to ensure the plane is jam packed when it takes off.

There are always alternatives, Americans just seem to be fucking brilliant at ignoring any possible alternative than their first shitty attempt.