Originally Posted by
jsloan
Who's to say that they didn't fulfill that promise? They apparently held the flight for some connecting passengers. That doesn't mean that they were obligated to hold the flight for every connecting passenger.
It's also a bit of "no good deeds goes unpunished" thought too. United displays the messages for weather delays, maintenance, etc. It could just not say anything at all, and people (like me probably) would complain that United won't want to say why a plane is being delayed. Maybe they did hold it for some passengers, maybe they were going to hold and did but the flight got more delayed, etc.
Side thought, If United really wanted to get people on the flight, they could have had people at the gate with carts and a radio ready to transport pax if it was that close.