Yes, this is sticking it to the airlines. It is also sticking it to other passengers. Airlines generally try to get people on their flights (if only to avoid rebooking) AND accommodate crazy people flying on standby. When someone is “in the airport” because their plane landed it is assumed they are going to get on the plane. When they get done group 20 and that person hasn’t shown up, it triggers a mess of figuring out what to do, who can board in their place, etc. All of which leads to delays for everyone involved
Airlines are REALLY stupid and pretty much function entirely on the backs of the gate agents. So if a gate agent cared enough to report “something is hinky” then that means they either dealt with a REALLY shitty day or they recognized the name of a no show.
So yeah. Like in almost all cases: Those heroes who “stick it to the corporations” are mostly just inconveniencing other customers and the poor bastards who have customer facing roles.