Removing oneself from the waitlist
 

Flying MSY-DCA today. I was interested in an earlier flight, so using same day flight change I put myself on the waitlist for the earlier non-stop, and as an EXP I remained #1 on the list. About three hours before the earlier flight, I decided not to head to the airport and to just keep my original flight. I don’t believe there is any way to take oneself off the waitlist online, so I called AA to do it. Was that necessary? I believe that had I just no-showed for the earlier flight, AA would have simply removed me from the waitlist, even if I had cleared, and kept me on my original flight. Is that true? Am I correct that my call to AA was not necessary?