I think we all try to head off future flight problems, and try and get out early, get protected, etc. And the ORD service desk had the best thoughts on that.. "the hell with the rules" in those situations. It's obvisouly better for AA and us if someone is proactive in these matters.
Just as an aside, be polite to (at least one)the Plt Svc Center agents in ORD, one of them hasn't been paid since November!! Some sort of inhouse snafu.