An award should go to the United Airlines gate agent in Denver for being smart and funny, andmaking her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.

During the final days at Denver’s old Stapleton airport, a crowded United flight was canceled. A single agent was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly, an angry passenge pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, “I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS.”

The agent replied, “I m sorry sir. I ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these folks first, and I m sure we ll be able to work something out.”

The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “Do you have any idea who I am?”

Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and grabbed her public address microp hone. “May I have your attention please?” she began, her voice bellowing throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to gate 17.”

With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the United agent, gritted his teeth and swore “F— you.”

Without flinching, she smiled and said, “I m sorry, sir, but you ll have to stand in line for that, too.”