On this subject, here is my experience, which may be of some help to non-US residents, some day.

I called AA Madrid today and asked a question about purchasing a OWE ticket; one hour and fifteen minutes later I was still on the phone with the same AA agent, getting nowhere (no, no, no, no,...). Now, thanks to this board I knew I was right and the agent wrong, but trying to persuade her to see it the right way was proving just impossible. At the end, out of sheer frustration I said something like "how can I talk to the RTW desk"?... after the typical "round-the-world-what?" question more explanations from me, then silence, a couple of "please wait" from the agent and finally, another agent on the line, with a totally different attitude, who took no more than 15 seconds to hear me out and tell me exactly what I wanted to hear, in a matter-of-fact, professional way.

The punch-line: my call to a local MAD number had been transferred, just like that, to a supervisor at the RTW desk in the US. The lesson, as the supervisor told me: "next time ask the agent to transfer you to the RTW desk".

Now, I know that all this business of phoning the RTW desk is like "so what?" for you guys in the US, with a 1-800 line available, but for us out here things aren't always so easy, or obvious.

So, next time don't bang your head against an overseas wall, just ask to be transferred to the RTW desk in the US, where the chances of finding a more experienced agent are so much greater.