Posted this in the AA newbie forum, no help. Anyone here have advice?

I redeemed some of my ~300,000 British Airways Avios points for a round-trip DEN-HOU ticket on American. Flew the outbound half of my booking on 27 Oct, with the return booked for 30 October. The next afternoon (Sunday 28 Oct) I phoned my spouse. A stranger answered his cell phone, and I heard screaming in the background. My husband, I was told, had been in a serious accident and was being transported to the hospital in an ambulance.

I immediately attempted to phone both BA and AA to change my reservation. In both cases I could not complete the call, receiving "unable to take your call due to high volume" messages or just getting bumped off the line, most likely because hurricane Sandy was approaching the East Coast, and thousands of flights were being cancelled as the airports shut down. But the AA website showed availability on the next flight out, so I raced to the airport.

The AA ticket agent confirmed that there were plenty of seats available on the flight, but told me he could not change my booking — I’d have to do that myself, over the phone. I told him that the phone systems were down, but he was unmoved. I tried the phones again, no luck. The agent offered to SELL me the ticket for $975. I now had 45 minutes to clear security and get on that plane, so I paid. (Data point: SWA charges less than $400 for a last minute HOU-DEN flight, and theirs is direct, unlike AA's, which requires a change at DFW.) I made it back to DEN 40 minutes after scheduled arrival time, just as my spouse was coming out of surgery.

The good news is, he'll recover. But I am left fuming about my treatment at that AA counter. I'm reconciled to eating the lost Avios, but what with the medical bills, I could really use that $1000. BA offered only sympathy and the fax number for AA's customer service department. I faxed AA a letter, but have received no response. Any ideas for how to proceed?