I have run into situations like the one above, but found that after a few minutes I am able to work through it. The biggest problem I run into is counter staff that are robotoic and can not think on their own and refuse to call other staff for assistance. Yes, a paper ticket would have avoided this problem. However, as time goes on I seem to have it less and less. I must say however, that these types of problems happen to me so often on AA I seldom fly them anymore.