Pilots interpreting the law? Good one. And please lay off the 'my aircraft' guff. The commands have to be lawful to start with. The aircraft is on the gate and belongs to United. I have personally witnessed an over enthusiastic cabin person shouting at a passenger for using the wrong class of toilet ( United). And finishing off with 'haven't you heard of 9/11?' This is a grotesque use of 'power' to invoke such a tragic event to enforce petty rules to back up cabin crew interpretation of the 'law'. The correspondent who said that a backlash in the way customers are treated is on the way is spot on. He / she has recognised that for example a 300 dollar bill paid in a restaurant will have you treated like a king but a 300 dollar airline ticket means treating the customer like dirt. Karma is en route.