On a personal note, I had a similar experience on a flight in January. It wasn't AA, it was AY, for JFK-HEL (what I called the flight to HEL
)
There was a couple with what looked like one of their mothers, a toddler, and a baby. They boarded just before the doors closed. The kids were truly horrible (I had some choice words that I said to myself), and the parents did nothing to help. They were seated in 4 seats of row 1, I was in row 2, behind some of them.
At one point when I saw an FA walk by I asked if there were any other seats. Nothing in business. She checked coach...there was 1 seat left. I put on my headphones, played my, "mellow music," playlist, and perhaps got a little listless sleep.
Chatting with others on the aircraft, it sounded like not a soul got more than a few minutes of rest.
I chalked this one up as a learning experience. I didn't contact AY about compensation; the thought didn't even occur. When we were deplaning, I overheard the family asking the FA about time before their connecting flight, and thankfully it was different than mine. I nearly passed out when I got on my HEL-SIN flight after a full day in HEL.