What's churlish? You asked the exact same question! What are you looking for, a completely different answer? $50 does seem short to me, but I'm not certain what you're expecting to have answered that hasn't been answered in the other threads. Yes, it sucks it didn't work. Yes, their offer seems kind of low for a paid fare. Ask for more. The end.

If this really is a multiple occurance, put together all the flights where this was a problem and try to go some action from the fact that you're having consistent bad experiences. Just don't ask the same people the same question again and expect to be let in on some super-secret handshake. Geez.