First, welcome to FT.
Second, something doesn't quite make sense to me...
Did you show up at the gate, or the check-in counter 25 minutes before the plane was to depart? I ask because you talk about 2 bags needing to be put through (and a reference that someone said it was the gates fault).
If it was the check-in counter you showed up at 25 minutes prior to departure, then you were late and it is you, not WJ, who is in the wrong.
If you were at the gate 25 minutes before the plane was to depart (assuming cut-off 10 minutes prior to departure) then WJ should have allowed you to board or offered IDB compensation.
(Also, it probably would have been more appropriate to start a new thread in the WJ forum than to revive a 7 year old thread on the AC forum).