I think the reason people don't like floats is that, used incorrectly, they break the box model (or did, TBH I haven't used float in a couple of years so IDK if that has changed). On any given team, _most_ of them will use float incorrectly, because CSS knowledge isn't valued.

If you've ever had the misfortune of owning the part of a large web app that is affected by a broken box model in code you _don't_ own, you'll understand why most of us would just rather live our lives without ever encountering them.

In an ideal world, yes, everyone should be able to use all the tools available and understand all the tradeoffs. But the real world is one where we have to get things done in teams with imperfect skillsets.