good point... I actually have a double-barrelled surname so I could book the new ticket with just the first part of the surname, no AAdvantage number, and take my chance that they don't insist on the names matching when I go to check in. I would then also be taking a risk that American won't allow my miles to post to my account due to the names not matching, which would totally defeat the purpose of flying on AA.

Unfortunately I can't check in with both tickets, as I believe missing the first leg invalidates the remainder of the ticket, so whichever one I end up using for the first leg, the remainder of the unused portion will go to waste.

The second ticket I purchased yesterday is still showing as 'purchased' and not 'ticketed', so I guess they're going to cancel it. I can book on United/Delta for cheaper, so I guess if AA won't sell me an extra ticket they can lose out on the extra revenue.