Originally Posted by steve32

Get the agent to put the flight on hold ("because you need to coordinate with hotel reservations, etc."), then go to the reservation online and buy it there with no phone fee at all.

Might work better if you try to reserve as close as you can to intent online, and call AA to adjust/correct the routing/fare classes to exactly what you want, then have them put back on hold while you finish coordinating with rest of your plans.

Steve32