For some reason I find this situation very interesting. In our exceedingly over litigious society (imo), I'm interested if UA has a procedure for this.

On one hand, it is airline policy for the pax to remain seated when the seatbelt sign is one. In reality, this is really a loose procedure I only see enforced during taxi, first 15000 feet or so, moderate turbulence, and last ~15 min before touchdown. There are plenty of times when the sign is on and people are up and about.

Otoh, pax must comply with instructions given by the crew. While I could understand situations where crew instruction takes clear precedence over any other written rules, telling a passenger to unbuckle and stand up when in the airlines own words it is "unsafe to be up and about when the fastened seatbelt sign is illuminated" could pose problems for the FA.

It's happened to everyone where the ride is smooth and you get up to use the restroom and then it seems the air picks that exact moment you're walking back to hit some CAT.

I would believe that pax safety takes priority over a contract agreement. (Safety is of course the number one priority) It seems that if the pax was ordered to stand up and stow the bag and got injured by turbulence, one could make a very legitimate case for the pax that the FA acted with clear negligence of the captain's orders.

On more than one occasion, I've heard FA's say that they are there for your safety. If having an item is unsafe for landing, it seems it is the FA's responsibility to stow the bag. If no bags for bulkhead are an FAA policy it seems that would take precedence over the UA FA contract agreement.

My 2 centimes.