I'm pointing out Apple have a long history of doing this with Revision A products, which the Retina MBA is. It's not new, it's not unusual and it shouldn't be unexpected.
I think the thing is that the two statements aren't really at odds.
Apple has always bent over to resolve issues for customers if they acknowledge the issue. For example, I had a pre-unibody MBP that the power button pushed through the top case. Apple very promptly took it back, replaced the top case and a few other cosmetic dings I hadn't complained about, and got it back to me.
On the other hand, Apple also has a long history of refusing to acknowledge some issues and giving the customer the run around on them, which is the type of complaint in this article.
It's more along the lines that really, you shouldn't be surprised that something which has been happening for 15 years or so with no end in sight still happens.
