Update: I decided to reach out to the AS Twitter team. They quicky confirmed that the flights qualified. And after reviewing the info already submitted went ahead and posted the 17868 miles based on the BA chart. So it seems to have just been an error by the rep that denied the request.

Based on the rules this really is a risk to book tickets this way but at least for now AS is continuing to make the exception.

Once again it seems that the Twitter team is doing a great job.