<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Dave Noble:
Take the miles and be happy. The 35 minute check in time is the time by which you have to be checked in by, not the time you join the queue at. Since you didn't check in by then, they are quite allowed to not take you. Getting 40,000 miles is quite a generous offer
Dave</font>
This is why I've stopped asking for advice on flyertalk about customer service issues. What a waste of time.