Being Nice Pays Off
My son and I were on a cross-country flight back to Manchester and our connecting flight had mechanical issues. It was the last flight out that day, so we had to wait until the following morning to get home. The flight attendants told us to go to the gate agent and they would help us find a hotel. We arrive at the stand, and two middle-aged men are just screaming at the gate agent.
They are red-faced and stomping while yelling about some important meeting the following morning. The gate agent calmly got them new tickets and vouchers for a hotel near the airport. They then started complaining about the quality of the hotel and demanded a better one. The agent kept trying to talk to them and kept getting interrupted.
Finally, the men left and continued to yell down the terminal as they left. When I got to the gate agent, my son and I were polite, and she helped us out with the hotel and rebooking our flight. In addition, she gave us $400 each in flight vouchers. Right as we walked away, she gave us the flight vouchers for the two men as well. Apparently, the whole time they kept interrupting her, she was trying to give them free flights and they were too angry to notice, so we got them.
Story credit: Reddit / woogychuck