With regards to AA mile redemption:

Because neither of the passengers have enough miles in their account for a full roundtrip ticket in miles to Asia, Person A wants to book a oneway trip using his miles on behalf of Person B. Person B will then book a return trip using her own miles. Person A will then pay his own way.

However, I was told by one phone representative (several reps gave conflicting information on this so I want to double check) that the name of the person for whom the reward is redeemed having to match the name on the paying credit card? Why is that? I had always thought the name on the AA account and the credit card had to match only.

I was unable to purchase Person B's tickets online and, in fact, had to spend an absurdly long time on the phone with a representative as well as a phone service surcharge just to be able to pay for the tickets. Because of this rather tedious experience, I'd like to be able to complete the process on my own online. Is there any way of going about that?

Also, my American Express was charged 3x the amount of $1.00 by AA? Is it normal to charge for the privilege of calling their 1800 customer service line? I had only made 1 call and was called back once so it makes no sense to me. I realize that it's small change but it makes me cautious about giving the credit card info to AA in the future.