Interesting. They're probably just trying to enforce non-transferability of the DBC. The carriers actually make money on DBC because statistics have shown the majority of them are lost or expire before they can be used. When I worked for ATA, they were good for the bearer, not the passenger so they could be used for anyone. I suppose this is just one more way United gets a few more percentage points toward the "Didn't use" column on their books. Glad you got it worked out. :-)