We’re going way OT, but for the sake of folks in similar-ish situations:
a family member had an AA award on CX and a revenue AA ticket (revenue ticket being the first segment). Despite AA having some exceptions for award/revenue tickets and despite their being references on ft re: a possibility of issuing them under one AA PNR, AA refused to issue under the same PNR, and, refused to check bags through (this at SFO).