Arnold: I was recently denied a seat on an airline flight for which I had a confirmed reservation, because the airlin...

Emil-Kunkin August 24, 2023

Let's start with the passage. We are trying to justify Js argument, which is that the airline doesn't owe compensation since regardless of the overbooking, the original flight was never an option.

A tells us that an airline is morally obligated to pay for bumping if the only reason that the bump happened was overbooking. This wouldn't justify Js reasoning. There was a second reason, so we know the airline was not necessarily obligated, but this doesn't quite get us what we need. We need to prove that there is no reason that the airline would owe compensation. This tells us that overbooking being the only chase is sufficient to owe compensation. What we needed was a principle that the overbooking was the sole cause is a necessary condition for compensation.

This is what c provides. It tells us that the only reason an airline should pay is if a person was bumped solely due to overbooking. Since the necessary condition was not met here, we know the airline doesn't owe compensation, and this justifies the argument.