Let me be extremely clear: if the OP's schedule changed sufficiently, a refund is in order. Not "regularly", not "lucky", but due to the customer according to AA's own policies. An aircraft change isn't enough to trigger it, nor is just a short connection, but the overall schedule change could push the OP into refund territory, and the actual flight times would be needed to know this. Of course if someone asks for something that's not owed within the rules someone could extend a courtesy, but to my mind the question to be answered here is whether a refund is due under AA's own rules.