There has only been one occasion (long before FlyerTalk) where being "insistent" looked like my best course of action. I took it and it worked.

Hunki, and I were flying NWA, SEA/MCO, Easter weekend with our two children and our foreign exchange student. The weather was bad and flights were being cancelled left and right. The airport was crowded with anxious folks--many of whom knew they would be spending the night right where they were and we had no interest in joining them. You have to pick your battles.

I don't think I actually screamed, but I refused to leave the desk, asking periodically how it looked. Finally the agent looked at me in frustration and said, "What do I need to do to get you to go sit down?" I winked and smiled and pointed to the boarding gate, at which time he issued five boarding passes to a very, very overbooked flight. We boarded, leaving hundreds of unhappy folks waiting at the gate.

My children, who were highly emotional teenagers at the time, are still not sure whether their strongest emotion that day was complete humiliation at my stubborn persistance, or absolute awe at my results.