In the thread that BB references, sing-along makes the following statement: "You basically can choose any airline if what AC gives you does not work out. As far as your aeroplan reward, it has to be a star carrier but the carrier does not have to have inventory available in a reward class." (italics mine)

So, what you're saying is that after all of my fun yesterday, Aeroplan agents and supervisors were, in fact, wrong in the applications of their own rules?

Really??