My take away on the slide thing is that during past attempts, the line was between slide packer responsibility and BLTA responsibility became much clearer. While the slides were the main issue, there was only so much blame BLTA could pass on.

ie. if the FAA previously stated something like: "Sorry...we could request a pass for you if it was only the strap but the girt bar is on you". I can see why BLTA's expectations are good if the only problem this time was the strap ect.

Just my useless speculation of course