Next time ask "Is this Amer-I-Can or Amer-I-Can't"? And see how far that gets you (but start livestreaming the video first so we can all see the reaction

But for all of the griping I can sometimes do about United in an abstract corporate sense, the vast majority of the time when things go wrong, and especially when it creates no real cost to them or legal liability, they are quite accommodating to make things right.

I just had an experience where it was very borderline whether EC261 should apply to my specific case but I wrote in anyway (partially because the GA was encouraging it). I expected at most a "sorry, we'll try harder" and possibly a token ETC. Instead, in less than 24 hours I had the 'standard' EC261 offer and the ETC posted to my account without any quibbling. (Had they said "no" I definitely wouldn't have fought this one)