It does pay to call AA in this situation. My company was just acquired by a larger company that requires we use the corporate travel dept. I had a ticket that stayed at purchased an inordinate period of time. This was a situation where I made a change to an itinerary that had already been upgraded. When I called AA they could see that corporate travel was essentially in a deadlock with AA. There was some problem related to AA upgrading a segment at the same time the travel dept was trying to issue the ticket. Had I not called, the incompetent travel dept (managed by Carlson Wagonlit) would have let this go on forever and I would have had a challenge checking in. In the end, AA had to retract my upgrade, the travel agency made their change, and then I was re-upgraded. If anyone has to go through a corporate travel agency rather than booking through the carrier, my sympathies are with you

Bottom line, if you are nervous about a transaction, it's probably a good idea to make a phone call in case your nervousness is justified.