I know, in the 1980's fly from KC to Manhattan KS on Air Midwest metroliners. . .so completely get it.

Now those could induce fear - those and the Shorts 360s.

If you're actually talking about the better E-jets (170, 175, 190, 195... not all in AA fleet obviously), those are great planes. Nothing at all to be worried about there. I'd rather be on those than an A319/A320 to be honest. The F cabin is a lot more comfortable and often find the regional FAs more attentive than mainline up front.

At some point, one has to ask what makes it an RJ in the OP's eyes. Is it the fact that it is operated by Envoy/Skywest/etc? Is it 50 seats or less? The fact that it says Eagle instead of Airlines next to the word American? etc..

Here is my suggestion: Schedule changes are typically run on Saturday night and can continue to run on Sunday. Check your reservations every Monday to see if there has been an aircraft change. if the aircraft has changed to an RJ, research your options and call AA with the change that you want (or, if possible, change it yourself online).

Also, there are resources to help overcome fear of flying, this may help with the PTSD. I do agree with other posters here, the ERJ 170 series are basically a smaller full size jet, similar to the DC9-10/20 back in the day -- totally different than the CRJ series.

Thank you all for your advice and help.

If you have an ExpertFlyer subscription you can get notifications of aircraft changes.

How does EF work in this situation where the change in aircraft would also come with a change in flight number (since it went from mainline to Eagle)? Wouldn't it show as a cancellation instead of a change of aircraft?

Good point - I hadn't thought of that. In that case, perhaps a Flight Schedule Alert would be more useful.