Originally Posted by
Antarius
The moment you select your flight and proceed, AA creates a PNR in the background. If you open your "my trips" on a different tab, you'll likely see it.
It's valid for a period of time.
I've seen situations where, at checkout, you're told the fare is no longer available. So I agree it creates a PNR, but it does not seem to properly lock the fare. Then again, this could be some other issue -- I've seen situations where you encounter the "fare not available" issue, then start a new search and see the same fare again, yet find that it is still not available.