Number_6,

You are right that my original flight was from TLL. However, I was at the airport 40 mins prior to the flight which was still within the 35 minute limit set by Finnair and I asked AY agent while in the queue if I had enough time to check in for this particular flight and she said that I had plenty of time (actually, I am a bit surprised that the agent's advice is not taken into account here since from some posts on AA board where an agent advised someone that luggage will be transferred between LHR and LGW and also between JFK and LGA the mildest suggestion was to sack the agent and sue the airline). It was only when I presented my AA award tickets that the check-in agent cancelled my check-in.

FWIW, neither TLL nor HEL have one flight per day and I spent a good 40 mins (@ $4/min) on the phone to AA Platinum desk and the best they could offer me was a flight 2 days later. So, in short AY had me by the b*lls and they took full advantage of it.