This was bound to happen. They created a system where phones are automatically locked even after you pay full price when purchasing the device. This means management level account overrides that can take anywhere from 48-72 hours to correct for customers that are literally needing their phones for travel/ international use next day. When there are automatic steps in place preventing the correct company policy from taking effect - you are asking your employees to correct the issue via bribe. You only cause headaches and waste your own money AT&T. You are demon.
So if you are a regular traveler and buy a new phone in full, in the U.S. - never ever use AT&T.