Aren't flight tickets booked under names and not hoardable? So that argument doesn't even apply. It's purely taking advantage of their market position.

And besides, businesses sometimes voluntarily put quantity caps on goods to prevent scalping. For example, NVIDIA had two per person cap for some RTX cards. Of course there are ways to get around such restrictions but it's still a deterrent. Doesn't this too break the ideal free gray market for graphic cards?

The Government has the power to force businesses to set price/quantity rules while allowing for smaller surplus extraction. The business won't go bankrupt.

In a civilised society those executives would be hanging from street lamps next to the beach.

if the outrage gets big enough they will just blame this on The Algorithm and "AI"

Is thst really thst unusual? They are obviously going to charge more for last minute extremely popular flights. People usually book months out to get better prices. And taking a plane to get away from a storm...? I don't know if taking a plane from Florida to Chicago like the next day is really anyone's God given right in the first place. Not shedding tears that someone is getting "ripped off" trying to take an airplane instead of just driving for a while or going to a shelter.