<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by flytoeat:
1. Travel to somewhere with 1st service.
2. Redeem cert for biz class to Rome with no refund of mileage.
3. Pay $100 award redeposit.
I don't like any of these choices. Any advice for recourse?</font>
unless you were ticketed in First to FCO already, you simply don't have any. The paper award carefully promised you only an AA ticket in First to Europe, they're still offering Europe in First (even if it is just LHR and FRA), and so they don't owe you squat. Awards have always been subject to service being dropped. All those people holding P25M certificates and wanting award trips to Boise are s.o.l. too...
so that's why they're not really "offering" you anything-- options 1 thru 3 were always available, even before service plans changed.