Got a biz class award ticket from BOS to Europe. No probs on outbound flight but plenty of problems with inbound portion or as soon as Finnair took charge of things.

My return portion was to start from HEL on 20th at around 7am with a flight to CDG connecting to AA flight to BOS.

The problem lies with the 20 minute connecting flight that I had to take to HEL to connect to my Paris flight and which was not an award but a full fare 'Y' flight. On the ticket it said that I had to check in 35 minutes prior to the flight which left at 6.20am. When I arrived at the airport at 5.40 there was an unexpected substantial queue at biz check-in counter. Reached the counter at 6am, agent looks at the ticket and starts the check-in. Then I ask if I could check my luggage in all the way through to Boston, agent stops, looks at my onward tickets and says "Oh, an award flight...". Then he says that the flight is closed and I better go to the ticket counter and find an alternative flight.

To cut the long story short, I ended up taking the ferry to HEL and missing my flight to Paris and Boston. Finnair made me buy a full fare $1500 one way ticket to JFK and from there a Delta coach flight to BOS. The flight to JFK in the front cabin was half-empty, so I doubt that there were any issues with award seating.

AA has offered me to refund 40,000 miles but I'd rather get my $1500 back. Any suggestions apart from taking the miles and be happy?

Certain issues here.

20 minute for a connecting flight is very tight. KNOWING that delays do happen! If you had issued it on one ticket, then the airlines would be liable but that wouldn't have happened.

Tickets issued on awards need to be reissued. Even though it was a FINNAIR ticket by issued on AA document, AA has to reissue it UNLESS it says somewhere in the PNR that AY can reissue or accept the ticket as is.

Basically by you permitting yourself such a tight connection between flights, I'm afraid that no one can accept the blame but yourself.

Live and let learn. Take the miles back.

GB, it wasn't a 20-minute connection time in HEL, it was a 20-minute flying-time from somewhere (maybe Talinn) to HEL. The problem is he missed the first flight, which left on time and would have made the connection to Paris just fine. Neither airline is on the hook for any compensation. I agree that taking the 40,000 miles is the best that can happen (in fact AA is being somewhat generous in doing this, I've had missed flights before when it was my fault and the airline offered no compensation).
I guess the lesson is that 30 minutes isn't enough time to check-in at even the smallest airport. Particularly when you have one flight a day (I suppose AA would have rebooked the award flight for next-day travel, as an alternative to buying the Finnair ticket).

Number_6,

You are right that my original flight was from TLL. However, I was at the airport 40 mins prior to the flight which was still within the 35 minute limit set by Finnair and I asked AY agent while in the queue if I had enough time to check in for this particular flight and she said that I had plenty of time (actually, I am a bit surprised that the agent's advice is not taken into account here since from some posts on AA board where an agent advised someone that luggage will be transferred between LHR and LGW and also between JFK and LGA the mildest suggestion was to sack the agent and sue the airline). It was only when I presented my AA award tickets that the check-in agent cancelled my check-in.

FWIW, neither TLL nor HEL have one flight per day and I spent a good 40 mins (@ $4/min) on the phone to AA Platinum desk and the best they could offer me was a flight 2 days later. So, in short AY had me by the b*lls and they took full advantage of it.

Sorry to hear about your experience, and the lack of OneWorld teamwork. I have an AY flight coming up in July, so I will be prepared with suitable measures. I don't mean to criticize you, as I've often made -- and missed -- flights by a minute or two, but depending on 40 minute airport check-in when the airline demands 35 minutes and it is the only possible connection is cutting it too close for my taste. The resulting morass is all too predictable. Airlines do like to use any possible excuse for revenue, particularly when it isn't their passenger. I think you made the best of a bad situation, it could have been a $3K ticket on some routes. I guess you wind up paying 4 cents/mile for those AA miles. Did AA offer this spontaneously, or require coaxing (I ask because some other airlines have been less benevolent in similar situations)?