I think another key to this whole incident is how they handle the issue afterwards. Most of us here would qualify for frequent cruisers and as such should probably expect to run into problems that are not resolved right away. It is very important for the company to handle the complaint appropriately (and not a canned sorry this happened here's a token voucher kind of response).

Speaking from experience with airlines. Last year Delta did a series of bad moves that cost us our pre-cruise day in Istanbul. But they redeemed themselves by the way they handled the complaint afterwards (addressing the e-mail/letter properly and following up with a call from the executive offices). While they did offer some token items in apology, it was a classy way to handle the situation. If they had given a canned response along with a token $50-100 voucher, I would have gone ballistic since I call that type of response a response to a cold coffee complaint.

This year, however, Northwest handled a serious complaint with a canned e-mail response that they will look into the issue with no followup. Needless to say, I will not fly Northwest again in the future (other than an already purchased ticket). Any frequent flyer miles with them will be used to fly partner airlines.