My wife and I were originally booked (thru AA points) CLE - DFW, DFW-LAX, LAX-PPT with good economy seats (no 757 with 3 seats/3 seats). Then, the DFW-LAX flight was canned and they put us on a 757 (we hate those planes) and now we're seated next to someone (we feel crowded - I get stuck in the middle - we're used to personal space - yea I know we're picky).

What are our options? I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of points to upgrade everything. Thought about trying to get into row 9 (2 by 2) at the gate or even in CLE before we leave. I wish we could buy a one seg. upgrade with a bit of cash, but they don't seem to do that on reward tickets.

This is our special anniversary trip, so I'm trying to make the flights (all together very long day/night) as comfortable as possible.