I am not excusing in any way the way the agent may have presented it but to be honest it is much better to make the reservation on the phone. I dont know what screen the agents at the airport look at when making a reservation but they often will haver fares that are way out there from what I find online or through agents on the phone. I would never want a "ticketing" person to make a reservation for me based on that experience.

Now, as far as those people reporting that agents dont want to ticket a held itin etc that is a real problem in my mind. Here at IND there are often times agents that just flat out do not know anything about ticketing working and they hate to call the help desk to get help because according to them the help desk "makes them feel stupid". At airport ticketing is a long painful experience.