Originally Posted by Syzygies

On my flight Thursday, Oct 31, I pulled out the first drink coupon I could find, in dim light without reading it any further than identifying it as a United drink coupon of some sort. The FA rejected it as expired. In a million miles of flying United I have never experienced this before. The exchange went south from there.

A hidden variable could be that this was one of the only times I've ever sat in Economy Minus; perhaps this was simply a glimpse for me of how United treats its cattle. There were perhaps five of us in the last dozen rows of an international 757-200. First was full and Economy Plus was packed window, aisle; my video in Economy Plus didn't work and my seatmate was a slob who delayed departure by spilling his McDonalds coke all over the seats in front of us, so I moved. I was surprised that the captain didn't make more people move, for load balancing.

A different FA who realized I'd moved took up the conversation. There has been a memo to start checking expiration dates on drink coupons. We commiserated about Jeff, and good humor was restored.

This could be handled with more grace? I can see United deliberately pissing us off when there's money in it, but this just struck me as ineptitude. Tell people we're going to stop taking old coupons, don't accuse them of fraud?