However, there's no substantiation in the OP whether or how AA picked "random" people and then "lied" about it. If the affected party were actually participating in this thread then maybe they could elaborate, but unfortunately that's not an option.

The CoC language about this seems rather squishy as well - IDB priority is "usually" based on check-in time but other factors may be considered. Again, we have no idea what AA told the passengers about the criteria used.