Originally Posted by
channa
Right. But was there something with space on another carrier? If so, perhaps the OP could've tried with res, or the more effective, just go to the other carrier and have them take over the CO ticket.
A lot of carriers have stopped accepting paper tickets and now require the "control" of the ticket to be pushed to them, thus requiring an agent. Regardless of disruption to plans, but especially being mechanical, you should have been offered routing on any OA with a participating agreement.