I booked a 40-minute connection through DCA (C concourse, from gate 43 to gate 35x) for Saturday afternoon. Now the second flight is scheduled to leave 10 minutes before its scheduled time, as per the AA app, making this a 30-minute connection.

Both flights seem pretty empty. Surely AA wouldn't have the second flight leave 10 minutes early if I'd miss it, would it?

Should I go ahead and get a back-up plan in place, assuming that I'll miss the second flight due to the early departure?

Thanks.