I would assume that this kind of action is not just the whim of the desk agent. That means that they are following some corporate directives. How is it possible that a company that (presumably) is trying to maintain our loyalty could be so petty in these small issues? For every $20 they save in small denials of privilege, they must lose $000s in good will and ticket revenue. Is no one in control there? I'm sure that if RM was in charge of WestJet he'd be instituting policies to preevnt flight crew from being courteous to pax.