The AA G-ds smiled on me tonight.
A very, very, very nice CS rep waived the $150 change fee because I booked the wrong date (by 1 day) and she started laughing when I told her my mother would kill me for doing so.
Luckily, the schedule had changed (although it was for the return portion a week later and only changed by 3 hours) and I think maybe she worked that into being able to waive it somehow.
KUDOS TO AA! ^^