Unfortunately front line employees (of most airlines and other large institutions) are a poor source of information. It seems in a vacuum of information, someone speculates a reason and soon that becomes gospel. This is not unique to UA nor is it new -- and yes it is because they are not properly briefed and seem uncomfortable with saying they don't know.

Just ask a GA how upgrades work -- the many different (and wrong) explanations reported on FT are amazing. Or the lack of awareness among FA's reported in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ree-gs-1k.html