I've flown AA about 20 times in the past year and a half or so, and never have had any issues with status getting recognized (both SL/Ruby and GO/Sapphire). I have had issues with getting mileage credit for a few flights because "the passenger name did not match that on the manifest" or something to that effect, so, yes, name matching might be an issue in your case. But then again, on those flights, my status was reflected in my booking and when traveling.