Originally Posted by Punki

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.

...

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.