[FireBeyond]

"Fined"? I'd love to see the remotely actionable, deeply buried contract of carriage that it can be claimed I knowingly consented to that allows this.

While their Contract of Carriage (https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/contract-of-carriage.html) covers this in Rules 6J and 6K, the closest that they have any means of financial redress is 6.K.5:

> Assess the Passenger any amounts owed to UA, including but not limited to for seat blocking, for the actual value of the service or ancillary product, and for the full value of a Ticket, which shall be the difference between the lowest fare applicable to the Passenger’s actual itinerary and the fare actually paid, including after the transportation or service have been provided.

Which at most would entitle them to try to charge him for the difference for the direct flight, but even then (IANAL) seems like there's substantial room for argument, if you tried to push back.

[ceejayoz]

> try to charge him for the difference for the direct flight

Yes, that was the fine.

https://nomascoach.boardingarea.com/travel/united-airlines-t...

> Such conduct constitutes fraud and a violation of Rule 6 of United’s Contract of Carriage. Accordingly, United demands that you cease and desist these unauthorized practices immediately and that you reimburse United in the amount of $3,236.76 which represents the difference between the cost of the tickets that you purchased and the cost of the travel taken, within 10 business day of receipt of this letter.

I don't know if they managed to collect on it.