Originally Posted by coutura

This is definitely the case.

Also, if a kid misses a connection and gets stuck in airport limbo for days, this might be an issue and cost for United having to "babysit" them (after all, most parents wouldn't be happy with their kids sleeping alone in an airport overnight).

Obviously United decided that it wasn't worth the hassle of dealing with kids in these situations (or that it was wise to raise the price to cover these situations) and just decided to gut the program.

Gotta get those $2B in savings somewhere.