Originally Posted by
Tizzette
OP makes the point that UA staff did notice it and intended to do nothing until he insisted. That's just not right. This is one of many reported instances of FAs and GAs avoiding confronting an unpleasant issue. They do have the power but choose to avoid confrontation, ignoring the problem and taking the easy way out. It isn't right when the passenger has to wear the bad guy hat to make them do the right thing. Otherwise, it's SOP...just doing their job as is easiest for them.
Don't really think that is the case. I wasn't there, but my personal experience with UA staff is that they are not afraid of confrontation. I would even beg to say that a good deal of the GAs love that power feeling and would be happy to prevent someone from boarding. I'm sure if the captain saw the issue, s/he would error on side of caution and not allowed the pax to board. My guess is the staff was not fully aware of the issue or they didn't have enough proof until the complaint came through as they wouldn't have reopened the boarding door and push the jetbridge back to offload then.
UA did what it was supposed to do here and dealt with the issue when they were aware of it. This is far from a "worst experience" and the thread title should be changed to reflect that what the situation actually is.
If OP saw this in the boarding area, they should have mentioned it to the GA right away so it would have been dealt with prior to the boarding. It could have avoided the issues completely, as well as allowed the passenger to be spoken to privately verses bringing heighten awareness after the boarding door is closed.