"Ya, I went in and tried to book the fare - and yes, $29 for 1000 miles, plus a $30 transfer fee - and they say it takes up to 72 hours to get the miles into my 48 hour fare hold :|"

I thought AA mileage holds are 5 days. I don't follow the 48 hours. Another option, which does have a little bit of risk, is to cancel the existing reservation and immediately rebook it again. It restarts the clock and establishes a new hold expiration date. Perhaps that would yield enough time for the transfers to hit.