I would further add that as a pilot we have NO ability to actually help you. Just direct you to people that can help you.
You see us pounding away on a computer terminal and it looks like we are using the same system but we are not. Gate agents work in a partition of the grand central AA computer system called "RES". We work in something called "DECS" and though they are accessed from the same terminal, they are completely different computer systems, as each group is solving its own problems.
So we can tell you what a gate a flight is leaving from, but beyond that not so much. Furthermore, if we are at a computer terminal pounding away, we are concentrating on safety of flight issues related to our OWN flight. We are not playing tetris, surfing PPRUNE, looking at facebook, or browsing news. Distractions caused by passengers asking us things that we cannot help you with are actually a risk to flight safety. There are a LOT of calculations and considerations that go into generating or verifying a flight plan is both safe and legal, and concentration breaks are, quite frankly, detrimental to safety.
If flights are canceling, usually something is going on that is completely transparent to you as a passenger. Even if you get an explanation, its is invariably only part of the story. But it also means that our (as pilots pulling flight plans) work and stress levels are probably MUCH higher. (Airways have closed, weather at the destination, MEL issues with our own aircraft, running out of duty time, etc) All the while, people are walking up to you breaking your concentration, while you are making decisions that can truly be life and death while also under a severe time constraint. (My flight is leaving in X minutes, plus I have to find food for myself as well as handle all of my own paperwork). IF pilots are at a computer in the terminal where you can see us, we are most certainly already extremely time compressed, or we would have gone to Operations and done it in a less harried environment.
So I am sorry if you were not dealt with quickly, and I do apologize for a lack of staffing to meet your needs. Furthermore, I realize by definition every travel experience cannot be perfect, though we all wish it was. But some consideration and thought before jumping all over some already harried pilot whose job it is to get you there safely is ALSO in order.