An employee for United deals with hundreds, perhaps thousands of situations and rules on a myrid of things. They are likely trained best and well-versed in the more-common ones, and may, from time to time, not recall or state incorrect information once in a while. The best agents are going to explain that they're not sure about something (but can find out), and the worst will make things up as they go along (fortunately not many of those). There could be a couple of superstars who have everything down perfectly every time.

But let's look at my "best agents" scenario. Even that person is going to suffer abuse here on FT because, my goodness, an FTer knows or understands a particular rule better than he or she does.

That's normal. In this, or any other business. You get customers who are well-versed in one specific thing, because that's what matters to them and they've researched it to death. Such customers (in my business) can be very intimidating for some sales people, because the salesperson believes they're there to help the customer, and the customer is telling them something they might not know, putting the salesperson in a defensive position that they may not have the skills to back out of. The better sales people recognize they can't know all things about everything, and that once in a while a customer will teach you something useful (if you're willing to listen).

But how often does that customer think, what an idiot, I know more than the salesperson (or FA) does? Too often. That salesperson or FA is in a position to help you, if you let them. Most, anyway.

We're real live nut-cases here. We live, eat, breathe and sleep the details of the MP program and UA policies & standards. We're not normal, and many people dealing with us are going to have a tough time. We need to cut the other side some slack and consider things from their perspective.

Sure, every business has its share of bad apples, but there are a lot in the middle that could go either way, and how we deal with those folk may make a difference in what direction they go, not to mention how helpful they are to us.