I logged onto nwa.com tonight to see if by chance I had been upgraded for my PHX-MSP-LSE trip on Friday. Lo and behold I find out that NW 1499 from MSP-LSE is cancelled. I was booked on 108 from PHX-MSP departing 4:31 PM and arriving 9:29 PM, connecting to 1499 at 10:20 PM arriving LSE at 11:03 PM.

I can't leave PHX any earlier on Friday because of work and 1499 is obviously the last flight into LSE on Friday night. The cancellation was due to unavailable flight crew (don't ask me why they fly a DC-9 into LSE, it's never full and just overnights there and then leaves first thing in the morning for MSP). I was heading to LSE to visit the GF's parents and then departing out of MSN, where the GF lives, on Sunday afternoon for the return leg.

I talked to the elite line and they laid out 3 options for me:
1. Fly Friday night into RST, arriving at 10:46 and then have to rent a car at my own expense and drive 75 miles to LSE arriving at the GF's parents house well after midnight. Or have the GF drive 150 miles round trip to pick me up at RST.
2. Fly Friday night into MSP, overnight in MSP at my own cost (although I do have friends there), fly into LSE on the first flight on Saturday, which arrives at noon, 13 hours later than I was scheduled to arrive.
3. Fly Saturday morning from PHX, arriving LSE at 3:05 PM only to turn around and fly out of MSN 24 hours later on Sunday evening back to PHX.

I'm wondering if there is a 4th option available to me that the airline isn't offering, but that is more palatable? Or if I need to whine a little more to customer service about the paucity of quality options they are offering me due to their cancellation?

To complicate things a bit this is a 4-leg multi-city ticket that got me out from CWA-PHX months ago on leg 1, gets me to the GF's parents house in LSE on leg 2, brings me back MSN-PHX on leg 3, and delivers me back home PHX-CWA for Thanksgiving on leg 4, all for less than two round trip tickets to expensive regional Wisconsin airports where NW/Mesaba have a duopoly with United/UnitedExpress. The three remaining legs are worth $430 and I paid $550 for the original 4 legs.

Any advice from veterans of advanced notice cancellations would be helpful as I've dealt with last minute weather and crew cancellations, but this is the first time I've had to plan with 72 hours of lead time. Thanks!