Early bird question
 

I recently booked a flight using rapid rewards points. I bought the early bird with it. Now, I am thinking I might just want to pay for this flight and have the points returned to my account. Is there any way to do this without losing the early bird?

Nope. But, you can try Customer Relations M-F. Let us know how that works out.

If you call them, they will probably transfer your EB to the paid flight.
Can't do it online or on the AP

I have had customer service reps refund and transfer my EB funds in the past. All depends on the rep and how nice you are I suppose.

Decided to leave it alone after all, but good to know how to handle in the future if it ever comes up again.

Not the same thing, but I had a reward trip (mco-aua) booked with paid EB. The number of miles needed went down. I was able to rebook at lower mileage and the eb was automatically transferred all online.

Technically, as long as the confirmation number survives, EBCI is supposed to survive as well. Right now, with all the issues from the booking systems conversion, this isn't always true. But that's how it's supposed to work.

Moving from a points booking to a paid one necessitates a new confirmation number.