Alan Bostick wrote: [...]

She presented the gate agent with *four* tickets and *four* IDs. "Where are these other people?" the agent asked. "They're parking the car," said the traveler. The agent gave her all four boarding passes; and my companion and I were bumped to the third boarding group.

The woman in front of us was white and middle-class-looking, traveling with what appeared to be her family. One wonders what would have happened were she a swarthy man wearing robes and a burnoose. Or if she were just wearing shabby clothes.

My guess is that you and your companion would have been further discommoded, with the possible concomitant saving of your lives.