Originally Posted by
BearX220
Right on. ^ We can do hundreds of posts about how the limes on the bar cart are cut, but if a no-status flyer is downgraded, IDB'd, kicked around, etc. by United, the response is: get over it, stuff happens.
This runs so deep in United Airlines culture, it's easy to believe that an integral, intentional part of the UA elite experience is the opportunity to observe less worthy customers being mistreated.
I flew this week and the topic came up before every leg among the FFs in the 1 and 2 boarding lines. Not one person in those lines expressed the opinion that Dao should have obeyed simply because obedience is required. Not one. Not one thought United had behaved appropriately. No GS flyers in those conversations, but golds, plats, and 1Ks aplenty. All had too much experienced being poorly treated (yes, maybe only on one in 20 flights, so non-FFs might never see it) to give United the benefit of any doubt.
I did hear it from non-flyers at my destination.
For sure, everyone was talking about it.