Originally Posted by The Lev

Given the title of this thread, I think it is reasonable to assume the airport is PEK.

As far as I recall, the check-in agents there are contract, not AC employees. It doesn't come as a huge shock that they don't know the finer points on AC ticketing and ETA. As people mostly accustomed to Chinese bureaucracy, I can understand why they would assume a visa approval process would take days rather than 10 minutes.

Anyway, hopefully OP can at least get a credit for use within a year from AC for most of the ticket value if he contacts them.