So I had a schedule change into my home airport that, while not major, kind of screws me over (went from 10:50pm arrival to 11:15pm arrival--my form of transportation home stops running at 11pm). AAgent said that, since the sked change was small, that I'd have to change the flight per normal AA policy (change fee and re-price, etc).

Was this agent correct, or should I play HUCA? Would my best bet be to go with a same-day flight change?

Also, the agent said something that indicated I could make a same-day flight change at the 24-hour mark before the flight I WANTED to take, not the original departure time. This contradicts what I've always known... Is this the case?