Blondelatin,
This is my first post, and I never fly AA, so you'll might find better answers later on.
1. That said, I found a better fare for you: $ 213.00 including tax, for a day trip to New Orleans (MSY). You can just book this fare at the AA website. This is the itinerary:
-----
From: Philadelphia, PA (PHL-Philadelphia Intl.)
To: New Orleans, LA (MSY-New Orleans Intl.)
Fare Basis Code: LR14QSPN
AMERICAN AIRLINES 3033
PHL Philadelphia 12/06/2002 06:35 AM
STL St Louis 12/06/2002 08:12 AM S80
AMERICAN AIRLINES 2817
STL St Louis 12/06/2002 09:20 AM
MSY New Orleans 12/06/2002 11:15 AM S80
AMERICAN AIRLINES 2950
MSY New Orleans 12/06/2002 12:13 PM
STL St Louis 12/06/2002 01:58 PM S80
AMERICAN AIRLINES 2890
STL St Louis 12/06/2002 04:42 PM PHL Philadelphia 12/06/2002 08:00 PM S80
Price 1 Adult: 160.92 USD (fare) + 52.08 USD (tax) = 213.00 USD
---
SEASONS - NO RESTRICTION
PENALTIES - CANCEL-NON REF
CHANGE-100.00 USD
FOR ALL CONDITIONS SEE TEXT RULE
DAY/TIME - NO RESTRICTION
ADV RES/TKT - RES REQ 14 DAYS BEFORE DEPART
TKTG WITHIN 1 DAY AFTER RESERVATIONS
OR AT LEAST 14 DAYS BEFORE DEPART
WHICHEVER IS EARLIER
WAITLISTING NOT PERMITTED ALL SEGMENTS
FURTHER RESTR APPLY SEE TEXT RULE
MIN STAY - NO RESTRICTION
MAX STAY - NO RESTRICTION
BLACKOUTS - 20DEC02-21DEC02 26DEC02 02FEB03 05FEB03
---
Found this fare through travelocity, under section flights, than on the left side: " I'm on a budget! Where can I go?".
After that I went to expedia.com. Since I now knew that there was a good fare from PHL to MSY I looked under "Airline Fare List". The cheapest fare required a Saturday night stay, but the second cheapest did not. Checked availability at itn.net, and found plenty of seats available.
I'm not really familiar with AA fares, especially not from PHL, so I don't know whether this is a good offer.
Sorry, I can't answer the other questions in point 1.
2. Just download the time table from the aa website. Under travel information, you'll find a section timetables. Can (download and) read it in Acrobat Reader. AE flights are also in there.
3. It's my first time to try this. Maybe my way works for you. Hopefully other posters have more (better) suggestions for you.
Have fun with your platinum status! I can't wait to do some Mileageruns myself to obtain such a status!