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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,368
If you want to explain it this way, then I would respond that UA should not un-check a customer without the customer's permission on a flight that's operating on time when the customer hasn't yet missed the flight. This *could* be used as a way to avoid paying IDB (or VDB) compensation when flights are full.
BTW, IIRC WestJet did something like this, changing the reservation of a couple who had already checked in for a honeymoon flight on which they had been confirmed. While it's unclear that Canada's new airline passenger rights legislation would have prevented this, it had resulted in some bad publicity for the airline that did it.