It worked for me.

It is best to describe the facts and then how it inconvenienced you in such a way to put the spotlight on the fact that there was really no way you could have avoided this problem, or that you did everything you could to avoid it. I had a (far less messed up) problem with another airline, and they gave me several thousand frequent flyer miles to "make it up to me."

I think if you put it the way you did in your post to us here, you might experience a similar outcome. The main thing is definitely avoiding subjective arguments or making emotionally-charged statements. I know you wont, but I am speaking to anyone reading this. It does no good to yell at people that weren't even responsible for what went wrong with you that day. And honestly, it doesn't even help to yell at those who ARE, it wont fix the problem, it wont make people who don't do their jobs right, suddenly start doing their jobs right, and to those who regret having caused any inconvenience, further punishing them with a bad attitude is, in my opinion, not an adult approach to take.