I don’t think anyone will dispute the fact that you have to accept the risk of being bumped whenever on staff travel. That’s a given. But that has nothing to do with being treated so disrespectfully buy anxious check in staff that takes their one ounce of authority and then run a mile with it. There is no valid reason to be treated so poorly. Obviously not every gate agent or check in chick behaves like this, but in my experience a lot do.
Furthermore I don’t see what’s wrong with comparing US airlines and their staff travel policies versus Australian airlines. At the end of the day it’s up to the individual airline to present policies and negotiate other airline deals. In my opinion and in the opinion of many of my colleagues, what deals and policies present by a given airline directly reflects the appreciation or should I say “the lack of” for their staff.
Again, with respect to staff travel, Australian airlines have a lot to learn from US carriers.