I was two segments short of a special promotion by American about 5 years ago. We booked SFO to Monterey and spent the weekend. However, as is common in Monterey in the summer, there was too much fog to take off on the return, so our flight was cancelled. After complaints by several people who needed to get to SFO for a connecting flight, AA finally said they'd rent us a van and those of us who needed to get to SFO could ride in the van. We chose the van, but then were worried about not getting the miles. After a call to AAdvantage and explaining the situation, the very nice agent went ahead and gave us the segment and we got our bonus.
But, I have gotten some really great ideas from the posts above. Thanks, people.