App agents appear to be current/former phone agents
I have two trips in August, and one saw signficant changes overnight last night. I was scheduled to go OKC-PHL-PWM, and with the OKC-PHL flight remaining suspended in August, I was auto rebooked via CLT (kinda yuck) CR9/A319. I found better timings via ORD (kinda yay) and replaced the A319 (super yuck) with the E175 (super yay) on two legs. I did this using the chat function on the app. After a 10 minute wait, I copied and pasted my preferred flight information for the agent, and she had me taken care of after about 5 minutes. Overall it was a relatively easy process. A shout out to Rebecca who helped me on the app. I thanked her for her help, and she told me that she loved her job and had been with AA for 21 years. This leads me to believe that the app agents are current/former phone agents, and not some new or outsourced workforce.
My other flight was n/s to LAX, and I with that flight continuing to be suspended, I was auto-rebooked via PHX both ways. With somewhat similar timings, I was happy with this replacement.