Austinrunner

Your ticketing situation is worse than the average, even for this complicated type of award. Yet, it's not uncommon to encounter problems with telephone agents or with the behind-the-scenes ticketing department. For whatever reason, the agents often have problems explaining to customers what their system (or the ticketing department) is telling them. Sometimes, the agents just invent scenarios that they think will placate customers who don't know any better. I'm sure AA realizes these problems, but I haven't seen much improvement during the years I've been following these awards. Occasionally, a customer will get an extremely knowledgeable telephone agent who works wonders. It's purely the luck of the draw.

A ticket alone would not be enough to get you on a flight. If there's no reservation and, for example, the flight is full, you won't be boarding that flight. The more common problem is a reservation without a ticket number to support it. That's far more fixable at the airport (assuming you've actually been ticketed).

You're stuck with an electronic ticket, which has numerous advantages over paper. (Believe it or not.)

If you'll post your final itinerary (without dates to protect your privacy), I'll take a shot at calculating the taxes, etc. for you. Be sure to specify the airline for each segment, class of service, and whether you're connecting or stopping over at the end of each segment.