I'm surprised some people are saying United handled this well (I'm not bashing anyone, everyone has a right to their opinion).

Handling it well (IMHO) would have been emailing (even a mass email would have been fine) or calling (probably not feasible if a lot of people got in on this) with a statement along the lines of what was posted on here by UAInsider. Then after that, canceling the tickets.

Posting stuff to an internet forum (at least in the universe I live in) is not considered a reasonable effort to contact someone. Last time I checked I don't get my jury summons on JustinBieberFanBoard.com.

This has nothing to do with whether or not people should be able to fly for 4 miles. It has everything to do with how this was handled after the fact. You just gotta wonder what they were thinking.