I have been doing the "long distance" relationship thing for the past 36 months. We fly from ONT to SFO almost every weekend. When I purchase the ticket online, I run into that same problem.

I have tried to go to the ticket office and show my card so she won't be hassled. 20 % of the time, you get a "human" working there who knows the system and actually cares... the rest of the time they tell me it's "not possiable".. when I know it is because it's been done before....

Good Luck...