Typical
At the risk of this becoming an OMNI/PR thread, I think it's typical fear-mongering.
It's how big corporations convince normal people that the corporation's interests are really their own.
"Being trapped on an airplane for 6 hours is for your own good."
A big "Screw Off" to any airline who even tries to say this with a straight face.
Please don't buy into their rhetoric. They want to make their lives easier by being unfair to you, at the expense of your discomfort.