Thanks oliver, Who would have even thought! That's why laypeople like us flock to Flyertalk to get an education... and maybe snag a redemption or two along the way. Anyways, as I said before, always something new to learn here.

One of the real positives about AAdvantage is that they are able to engage a living breathing human being "liaison" at partner carriers who the AA rep can contact if there is a problem with ticketing, or if the other carrier's inventory is being flaky... or in the cases I've been impacted by... schedule changes, to open up partner space when it does not show availability for a sensible reroute. I have experienced at least one if not several instances when they requested unavailable inventory from the liaison and... voilą the space came back confirmed. I know for a fact that Delta does not, so if the partner carrier does a doozie and doesn't offer an alternative... then you're SOL. Although I will say I have been able to get DL to successfully work with AS (back when they were kissing cousins) to get my party better flights than subject them to a sked change which gave them a 30 min connection in SEA... when space was not available. But that took weeks, numerous 3-way calls, and required a whole lotta Immodium... but I would say that's the exception and not the rule with DL. With AA they do all the schmoozing and boozing behind the scenes to get the other carrier open up the space... but even so, only seldom, and only under exceptional circumstances.

Yes tfjim, I did just go ahead and ticket the rez with the HEL-LHR segment on BA and was done with it, picking up EY in LHR. As I can see from my and others' experiences, AY is like an incorrigible brat and nothing anyone does will make two connecting AY segments stick. Silly, but it forces us to get creative. BTW, I could certainly have done BA LHR-India and then avoided EY and yet ANOTHER stop, but I didn't want to pay BA's usurious YQ scamcharge on the Asia segment. BTW it doesn't look like BA charges YQ on some intra-Europe segments (or if so, comparatively little), so adding the HEL-LHR segment only cost me an extra $12 or so.

My thoughts too. Now that it's ticketed, I wonder if I can go back and add it in. I just fear greatly that the change show confirmed and then when they go to reissue the ticket... like Dave Noble said... poof, gone!... and then the original itinerary no longer be available... not worth the aneurysm. At least this way I have something in hand, and if there's a sked change or something AA can reprotect. If nothing else, with what I have right now I get a free extended connection in AUH and can zip over for a couple of hours to the new Louvre which FINALLY opened its louvers to the public last October after years of working out the kinks. Now to see if James Cameron actually manages to get Avatar 2 out in 2020 like he says he will... only 6 years late!... or 10?