Hi, Gina54. I would say welcome to Flyertalk, but apparently you have been a member for a while, but haven't used Flyertalk much.

There is a wealth of information here that will make your flying experience better. Most frequently asked questions are answered in the Forum Unofficial User's Guide sticky at the top of every page of the AA forum. There is an excellent Wiki linked in both the User's Guide and the NEWCOMERS: PLEASE READ FIRST announcement at the top of every page of the AA forum. A third good way to get information is to use the Flyertalk Search feature, in the blue bar at the top of the pages. A good search tutorial is here.

My experience is that all three of these methods of looking for information works better for me than starting a thread to ask it. I always find out way more information, including a lot of information that I didn't know enough to ask the right question in order to get. If you invest some of your time doing this, you will improve your flying experience a lot. If you follow the think-of-a-question, start-a-thread-to-ask-it model, you will improve your flying experience a tiny bit. Information is power. The reason why Flyertalk exists is that airlines don't give their passengers enough. It is here.