Originally Posted by
DenverBrian
Personality doesn't have to manifest as snark, and I think it's a dangerous road for a company to adopt a policy of fighting snark with snark.
(Which I personally am guilty of, and take responsibility for, in this thread. Apologies to anyone I got too snarky with, especially WineCountryUA. I'll endeavor to practice what I preach.)
They don't ordinarily use snark. Which should be another signal that airlines do not view this as harmless, but rather see this as something worthy of condemnation because it potentially interferes with their employees' job duties.
And I think that's actually why it is important to use snark. Because snark says "you didn't just make a harmless request and get turned down; rather you did something contemptable and deserving of mockery". It makes perfect sense as part or a public strategy to cut down on the number of passengers asking for handouts from UA employees.