Sorry, should have it say AA ticketed, JL operated. No it's not a FD. Yes, it's a cheap fare that almost gets me where I want to be. Yes, I also need the miles. Yes, I am willing to accept some risk if I misconnect. Yes, I put a 3h buffer in case the flight is delayed. This particular flight that I've chosen seems to be on time 90%+ of the time, so it should be okay.

I just want to know what my options are if I misconnect. I know that AA isn't actually obligated to do anything. However, what they are obligated to do is quite different from what they are willing to do, and in my experience, AA is typically pretty flexible, which turns out is why I fly AA in the first place.

So again, I'm wondering not what they have to do, but what they might do if I ask nicely. And as I've said, I'm sure the PVG-LAX flight will have plenty of seats the next day.

And come on, every time I ask these kinds of questions on the AA forum, I get the "you're an idiot" response, when that's just completely unhelpful.. I mean this is FT --- we're all about MR, and taking risks causal travelers would not. ? Last time someone suggested I pay a $400 ticket difference rather than SDFC, really(???)!

For example AwardBee's response:
is pretty good, I almost forgot about that. Thanks! I'm sure connection times are greater than MCT. So it should be worth a try asking at HKG (or even TPE), unless I discover I'm stuck on the tarmac.