What agent are you talking to that has access to the names of all passengers and is willing to abuse it for you?
Anecdotally, I've noticed that they tend to be more senior (so know what's possible / what they can get away with), less busy (so they're less frustrated and frazzled), and tend to deal with much more experienced travelers than a normal gate agent (so, again, they're less frustrated).
Thanks to mergers and lack of DOJ anti-trust enforcement there are now only legacy airlines.