Originally Posted by
Tchiowa
It's called "Throw Away Ticketing". It's a violation of the terms of your ticket. AA has the right to charge you the higher ticket price that the OP is trying to avoid. And they can cancel, as you point out, forcing the OP to buy another ticket at full price to get anywhere.
And a bus might run over OP on the way to the airport. Or a sinkhole might open and swallow OP, never to be seen again.