Yeah - the 'no business class' thing just isn't true unless they've had to close the cabin for some reason.

The plane in the air for AA729 is a A330-200 - which according to seat guru has a 20 seat business class section. As highlighted above - this is 8 seats less than normal.

So you were being told "you're downgraded" - want to go economy or direct? But I suspect there was a fib (about no business class) being told to encourage you not to ask "why me?" and potentially to encourage you into the direct routing.