I'm sympathetic to the ban on ticket transfers since allowing that would create a market for ticket scalpers. Buy up inventory on a popular route well enough in advance so the prices are low, wait until the flight fills up, and then resell tickets for a higher price.

This is what currently happens with tickets to music and sporting events, and you end up with actual attendees spending more money than they'd otherwise have to pay, while random predatory third parties pocket the difference.

I met someone a couple years ago who admitted to me that she was essentially a professional ticket scalper, buying up tickets to shows she knew would become popular and would be able to make a profit on. She was careful to purchase in a way that was unlikely to get flagged by Ticketmaster's (and other's) systems to detect this sort of thing, and always stayed under ticket maximums and avoid shows where transferring tickets is harder to do. She was actually supporting her entire lifestyle doing this, without having another job. I found it pretty gross. I don't want to see this happening with airline tickets as well.