I would like to chime in along with OP, that all my recent flights were reasonably good. In some of the flights I was thanked for being a loyal customer in F as well as Economy. In most flights I was addressed by name in F. My special meals were delivered in every flight in F. Crew reactions were mixed, I have had great crews and indifferent crews, however did not come across rude or unprofessional crew
But the thing that surprised me as well as made me happy, is that few weeks back my wife and daughter were flying out of country starting at 2 different locations but connecting at DFW. Wife is EXP and Daughter has no status. Daughter calls me frantically saying her first flight is delayed and she will miss the connection. I told my wife to call the EXP line, at which point she tells me her flight is showing canceled. Both of them were automatically moved to an earlier flight that is also delayed and ultimately all flights to DFW canceled. We had applied SWU for the International leg and it cleared for my wife a week before travel and daughter on the day of travel, but being an EXP wife also upgraded complimentary on the first flight. Now because they were going to miss the connection (actually that flight also was delayed and left next morning), I look at alternatives, looking for a common connection point taking time difference in to account. Found UA out of IAH and found connection for both which even though cutting it close, would enable to get UA. My wife called EXP line and after 20 minutes of waiting got a lovely agent who moved her to UA in F keeping her upgrades intact and then moved Daughter to UA but with F for the upgraded International leg and the domestic connection in Economy (Apparently my wife was told first was sold out on the connection, so not sure if the original upgrade had any impact while moving to UA)
Bottom line, AA came through and the trip was saved, saving us the hassle of rebooking hotels, possibly losing the first day stay cost etc and the biggest thing is saved us from the stress of going through the uncertainity
I know, it may be just one incident , but to be fair to AA, they have always come through for us when there is IRROPS
AA is not perfect and I am not a AA fan, but I think we read more about AA or for that matter any airline's missteps here at FT more and good news don't get written about and/or ignored for most part
I have had my share of bad experience with AA and other airlines, including bad customer service experiences
However, Personally I learnt, believe and am prepared for YMMV with each and every one of my trips, customer service calls etc irrespective of the airline I travel and understood there is no point in getting frustrated, stressed, annoyed or getting upset with the airline employees. Just go with the flow and give feedback when required and move on