Often1

Problem with your post is that you use the word "they" too many times. If by "they" you mean AA, all that AA did is allow OP to use his "miles" to purchase an award ticket on CX.

If by CX, and I take it that you do, CX is not a US carrier and it is operating a flight between two other countries. OP is certainly free to complain to consumer authorities in Hong Kong. He is just not going to get much satisfaction.

Or he can do something useful which has been suggested several times in this thread by people who know what they are talking about. Ask an AA supervisor to use the OW liaison function during the work week to see if this can't get fixed. Barring that, take the J flights and seek a customer service gesture after the trip.

77W_12A

If it's these flights....

CX 233
Departing HKG at 0:40 and arriving MXP at 06:35

BA 0585
Departing MXP at 07:50 and arriving LHR at 09:00

I don't know the minimum connection time at MXP but perhaps that's the reason why it triggered a flight change if there was indeed a change in schedule???

chuck1

That's a legal connection at MXP.

CkCrunch

It doesn't matter from the consumer's perspective who is at fault - just that whoever's fault it was should fix it. There was a schedule change that no reasonable person can believe should lead to that confirmed ticket being voided and rebooked:
- I had a confirmed, reserved ticket
- The flights I was confirmed on are still operating as the same flight numbers, on the same equipment, and is still a valid routing even with the scheduled change

This reminds me of this:

Hence I am complaining here, a community of dedicated travelers who can put pressure (through our custom) on the two companies here to establish clear policies to protect consumers in similar cases.

As a quick update, I did follow the advise given, but the response from CX (through AA) is that they will not open the seats. The only solution is for me to downgrade to C. AA is willing to not charge me the extra miles under the new chart (old F: 70k miles vs. new C: 75k miles), but they will not refund the extra miles I paid (old C: 52.5k miles vs. old F: 70k miles). The agent tells me they are processing this as a "voluntary downgrade" to retain the old award chart, and that if an F seat opens up, I can change back to F at the old chart price.

Not ideal, but better than nothing. I was fortunate C seats were available and it wasn't very close to my travel date as it could have been a lot worse. Buyer beware: confirmed reservations mean nothing on partners. Definitely lesson learned for me.

I was rebooked on the exact same flights 2 days later, so it is definitely legal.