Thanks all. I'll add some more info.
We are crediting to AA. This was our flight home, so I would not have worried about skipping the last flight, though we actually got on it. Really, the only annoyance was that after coming off CX in First for 13 hours, we got to sit in AA's domestic economy for 5+ hours (thanks to ground stop) a good 9 rows away from my wife. We should have been in First for the SFO - ORD flight.
Here is what happened in more detail:
CX870 HKG-SFO departed 42 minutes late due to either or both cleaning (late arrival) and non-working APU. To make things worse, we had a really weak tail wind and did not make up time, we lost more. Instead of an 11:35 a.m. arrival we had a 12:54 a.m. arrival (according to FlightStats). We were scheduled to connect to AA554 departing at 1:50 p.m.
Got off the plane, through C&I in about ten minutes (priority tags worked). Never connected INT -> DOM at SFO before. Basically no bag drop (except for UA) and you just wind up in the domestic terminal with everyone else like you are checking in from scratch. We already had BPs with seats assigned and our bags tagged through to home. Walk up to counter, hand over bags, asked our name.
GA says "you're not on this flight." (it's only about 1:10 at this point) She says we are on the flight the next morning at 6:50 a.m. We say, yes we are on the flight and show her our boarding passes. She types away for 5 or more minutes, then calls over the gate (I think). Tells us that CX must have changed our flights from the 1:50 p.m. to 6:50 a.m. next day. There was a later flight, but it would have involved missing the ORD connection so I guess CX thought we should overnight in SFO rather than ORD.
At no point did CX ever contact us, meet as the gate, offer a hotel for the night, or anything.
As an FTer, I am aware of the whole voluntary downgrade issue. However, we were never technically given a choice. Never asked, "do you want to fly tomorrow morning in First or take the current flight in coach?" We were simply handed a BP with no seat assignment and the instructions "go take these to the gate for your seat." I'm not even sure we were told at this point that the yet-to-be-assigned seat would be in coach (though I figured as much.)
We get through security about 1:35 and go to the gate. The plane is mostly loaded but plenty others are still trickling in. We get seats 9 rows apart, with my wife stuck in a freezing window seat of the MD80 on the DEF side with all seats filled.
To add insult to injury, there is a ground stop in ORD and we do not even close the door for push back until 2:45 p.m.
In ORD (arriving late) we rush to our next gate and luckily have no problem getting on the plane. ER4 is all Y so we had no downgrade issues there.
So, all told things worked out relatively well. My two concerns are: getting F miles for SFO-ORD and getting compensation for an "involuntary" downgrade.
I think getting the proper miles credit is likely the easier task. The compensation is harder.
The GA in SFO was just rude and horrendous to deal with. If it was the average traveler and not someone on FT then I am 100% certain they would have no concept of having voluntarily downgraded. The woman offered no apology, sympathy, or even emotion for that matter. I think she said less than 3 sentences to us. We were essentially handed new BPs and told to get seats at the gate. So, I think I have a legitimate argument that at no point we were given a choice - it is a grey area. If I play dumb, then I have a very strong argument that we were not given a choice.
All in all it was poorly handled. CX should not reschedule people until they actually misconnect. They totally screwed us on that one. AA was just rude and obnoxious in SFO... the GAs for AA Eagle in ORD were just delightful.
It just sucked ending a wonderful 8 week RTW honeymoon with a 4 hour ride (plus 1 hour wait) in AA's cattle class. That's a long way to fall coming off of CX in First.
That all just leaves the question of who to talk to. Can I try to talk to the AA RTW desk about this, or will they direct me elsewhere? They are the "issuing agent" after all. Feel free to offer suggestions if I should be talking to different people about the two different issues re: miles and downgrade.
Thanks again for all the help.