Thanks to the OP for the cautionary tale. Something else we can get from this is to always use credit and not debit cards for airline purchases. Last week I tried purchasing an AA itinerary from Travelocity (the fare was lower). After my first attempt, I received an error message at the final confirmation screen that asked me to try again. I did, and received another error message. I then realized that though the itinerary was never ticketed, my credit card had been authorized twice, at $3,000 each. The authorization took over a week to drop off. Had this been a debit card, I would NOT have been happy at a $6,000 hold for over a week on funds in my checking account.
In an instance such as this, you can call AA and have them them call your bank and release the hold on the funds, as this is only an authorization to withdraw the money and not a purchase. If not, the authorization should fall off in around four business days.