umguy, it is your fault that you didn't ticket 14 days in advance. Let me get this straight: the NWA website went down, and you waited an entire day before calling the help desk? Why? And then, you waited another two days before calling to actually buy the ticket?

NWA should not have waived the 14 day advance purchase rule for you. All you had to do was call NWA on the telephone on Friday when the website went down, or use an online travel agent, such as Expedia.com or Travelocity.com. You waited way too long to buy your ticket, and then you expect them to waive the advance purchase requirement, which they actually did.

And then, ON TOP OF THAT, you're hoping the ticket is free! Unbelievable!

You say you used to be a NWA F/A. After all the passengers you must have had to deal with demanding compensation for the stupidest little things, one would think you wouldn't want to be that type of person.