I think I will actually do that and send a formal apology to both CC and AA. Thanks- I hadn’t thought of that.

Yes, it was truly a mea culpa moment. While in the midst of the angst as my aunt had not made contact with AA yet, I noticed 5000 miles (not 8000 as I incorrectly recalled) was put back in my AA account. And STILL- still I couldn’t make the connection. I thought, wow, AA is so nice and gave me 5000 miles for no reason.