I think the staff needs training on various aspects.
I was travelling on an award ticket a few days back and had booked myself for a 9 PM flight. However, I reached airport earlier and requested the lady on counter to adjust me on the next available flight. Surprisingly, she told me to go to reservations to get it rescheduled (which I could have done otherwise but the flight was going to close in 5 min). When I told her that I flew just a few days back (from a different city) and rescheduled my flight at the counter itself, I was told rules vary from one city to another!! I had to then teach her it is not required to go to reservations for rescheduling award tickets and finally speak to her supervisor. Once the supervisor was there, it did not take her more than 2 min. to do the needful.