Originally Posted by g_leyser

No, they are NOT in any way acknowledging that I did comply with the visa requirements. On the contrary, I have been told over and over and over again that nobody should board a DME flight without a visa, PERIOD. Anybody who did in the past (i.e. at least half a dozen FTers) was in clear violation of the rules in United's eyes, and should never have been allowed to do it.
Is this complete and utter horsesh!t? Of course!! But as I said, perception is reality. It doesn't matter what the rule actually is. The only thing that matters is how UA interprets it. The customer is always wrong.