<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Spider:
I am NOT trying to pry $1500 out of AA! AA has treated me well and I have no argument with them. I am merely seeking advice how to deal with the situation and the reason my question is posted in this forum is that the ticket was bought with AA miles and issued on AA stock which makes them the issuing agent.</font>
Yes, AA did issue the award ticket which you weren't able to use because you couldn't get to the origination point, HEL, on time.
The reason you didn't make it to HEL on time is because
a) you arrived at the aiport 40 minutes prior to departure
b) FinnAir agent refused to put you on the flight
So to start off, AA had nothing to do with you not being able to use the award ticket.
Then when you arrived at HEL, you bought a $1500 ticket from FinnAir. You'd like to recover the money somehow.
In what way could AA or those FT'ers who frequently fly AA assist you in recovering the $$ from a third-party??
The best that AA could have done for you is to take the return leg of your award ticket and re-schedule you. Since you declined to do so, AA has offered to refund the miles for the unused portion of the award ticket. So they've done the best they can.
But your original comment,
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">AA has offered me to refund 40,000 miles but I'd rather get my $1500 back or some other form of compensation. Any suggestions apart from taking the miles and be happy? </font>
seems to imply that you'd like to get the $1500 back from AA "rather than" the miles.
Since that's not the case, I wish you the best of luck with trying to get FinnAir to give you a refund. But like others, I see no real viable options. Your best chance would have been to reschedule the return portion of your oneWorld award ticket at HEL. If that was not a viable option, then it's unfortunate that you had to pay the $1500. Sometimes it happens.