i've had experiences with pending charges, small charges, etc ... and how they usually work. those that are done in order to verify accounts. this is not one of those i asure you. this was an AA charge. it had an AA ref/ticket number attached to it which i was able to look up in their refunds website. and there was NO information on what the charge was. it just had my flight number info on it and that's all. all the spots where you would see a "type" was left blank.
and yes, thank you for those who understood what i am trying to accomplish here.