Xero

Car accidents are unintentional, but we are still responsible for compensation when at fault.

Of course AA can write whatever it wants in its one-sided contract of carriage. They mention that the mistake was "unintentional". I made an "unintentional" reservation before and AA wanted $150 for the change fee. They can do that because they have bargaining power; there are only a handful of airlines but millions of people who want to fly. Sadly, to fix this issue, it would require a change to regulation. This is why we need regulation in some industries, because the airlines refuse to do the right thing.

AA had a choice. They could have sent the family on a different airline. Or they could have oversold the flight further. I am sure there would have been volunteers who would have taken vouchers.

I think this is a good case that should be sent to Elliott.org.