When you don't get what you want, the first thing to do is politely -- and I stress politely -- end the call and then call back and speak with another agent.

But, before you call -- here are the facts you need to gather so that you can ask for what you want clearly and concisely:

1. Accept the fact that your original flight no longer exists and that there are only so many options.

2. You could cancel your booking and receive a full refund to your original form of payment. Depending on what it would cost to rebook the new route you want, that may or may not be a better deal. But, you can't judge this until you determine the refund and the new cost.

3. You could propose the specific option(s) you wish, providing the agent with the new departure city, air carrier, & flight number. In order, you will find it easiest to rebook on the carrier, on alliance partners and lastly, on non-alliance carriers. The last option is extremely rare.

4. Arguing with an agent about the economics of this is not useful. Agents don't conduct these analyses and you have no way of knowing what it costs AF to rebook you on another carrier.

It's always important to understand in advance what you are entitled to vs. what you are seeking. While you should always be polite, the fact is that in your case, you are asking for help in solving a problem, not making a demand under AF's COC.