Just a note to chime in that the woman with the short salt and pepper hair is awesome! ^ There are a couple of others at ONT that are great to deal with as well. On the other hand, I think I know the "other" one you refer to.

As for the noting the PNR, I've had a similar thing happen once before when I tried to change a ticket on another airline. My response was, "I appreciate that since it will document for customer service the fact that you refused to look at the fare rules." I got a "one time exception" instead.