Thinking out loud, if this is a policy that AA is implementing unilaterally - and I for one expect zero oversight from Oneworld on this - then it seems to me that assembling a list of knowledgeable and competent local travel agents in the origination cities, similar to what JonNYC did in Joburg, might be advisable. The TAs would comprise a "laundry" of sorts - we pay the TAs remotely, they pay the airlines locally.

This would also form a work-around for the online tool's many bugs. For those that followed Jon's attempts to get a DONEx issued ex-South Africa using QR stock, this was something the TA he found was able and willing to do, while of course the online tool merely had a predictable cerebral event.

People might need to volunteer to be guinea pigs in this, and I'd discourage open advertisements of who you find, so contacts might best be shared using email or PMs on FT.