Originally Posted by Evan!
I feel for the young man but I don't think it is fair to judge the gate agent so harshly. She might have been reprimanded prior to that for "giving away revenue". We don't know.
Two wrongs don't make a right. Your fare rules (or in this case perhaps the fare arrangement with the military) constutitute part of a contract between the customer and the airline. Any attempt to collect funds not owed should be detected & corrected.
In that case I would say "no mercy". A gate agent extracting undeserved funds on behalf of an unscrupulous employer is no better than the unscrupulous employer.