Originally Posted by
symphonicman
I would certainly not risk BG5 with an instrument (I have enough trouble sometimes with BG1, if I linger too long over my coffee and BG3 is halfway done!), but in this case it sounds like the encounter may have been at check in.
You are right, this article talks about the encounter being at the ticket counter:
http://www.click2houston.com/news/mu...uring-check-in
So it seems she was checking her (larger) bag and wanted to carry on the violin case as a personal item, on a BE fare. That should have been allowed, but would still have come with the risk of no overhead space. We also don't know if she has elite status or a UA credit card that would have given her earlier boarding even on a BE fare.