I was on the same flight. They announced that the pilots would be illegal and the choice was to stay at CDG or get as far as possible (JFK). Here are my questions:
1. We were told that the 777 didn't need to be deiced due to the way it was built, and that was why we were allowed to depart Paris without deicing. Yet, when we got to JFK, the plane lost it's ability to deice and we were then put in a que for deicing. Does American soil have a negative effect on the deicing mechanism?
2. The cargo/luggage for our flight was not loaded. Some speculation in the business section was: 1. The earlier AA flight used up all American's favors because it had more cargo that would create greater revenue. 2. The French are not happy with America at this time so we can assume the problem was more politically related than labor related.
3. Our attendants (who were GREAT) complimented the pilot who decided to get as far west as possible (JFK). It was the pilot's idea, is this who usually makes these decisions?
4. We could have gotten off at JFK when we first arrived and caught a flight home that same evening as we only had carry on luggage. We were not allowed off because "of customs." Why is customs in JFK different than customs in Dallas, LA, etc? Why would it matter when/where we got off the plane? They knew the situation and we had proper documentation.
5. AA at first insisted that they were not going to provide hotels as the problem was weather related. We then heard that it wasn't only a weather problem so they were providing rooms. How can I find out if this was a "political" problem? If the French are that anti-American, my tourist dollars are just as happy in other countries.

To AA's credit, our attendants were fantastic. They tried to keep us informed and were very understanding.