Super Bowl scores kept from United passengers

United Airline pilots traditionally have provided regular alerts to passengers during major sporting events. They also have tuned the carrier's dedicated broadcast channel to radio broadcasts so that passengers can listen to a game.

That didn't happen Sunday, as pilots who asked for the Super Bowl score were told they wouldn't be provided updates. Dispatchers also refused to provide radio station frequencies along their flight paths.

United vice president Don Dillman says workers at United's control center outside Chicago misunderstood a company directive. For safety reasons they were told not to watch the game on the oversized television screens that provide weather and flight updates. The workers in turn refused to provide the score to pilots.

One United pilot says he got around the blackout by getting game scores from American Airlines, whose pilots were on the same radio frequency.