Unfortunately it all boils down to AA cramming too many flights through CLT than it ever was designed for nor has the realistic capacity to handle. From the terminal areas to the lounges to the CBP processing area, etc., everything is maxed out.
I get your point, but Charlotte being over capacity for years says more about the city failing to build adequate physical capacity at the airport. It
would be more rational of AA to demand a commitment or shift some capacity elsewhere.
Out of curiosity, meaning I have only experienced Charlotte on the domestic side, how many bells and whistles has U.S. Customs installed there? DFW now has facial recognition coming and going. The facial recognition thing is intrusive enough it scares me a bit, but it went faster than I could pull out all the documents. I've got Global Entry but I'm not even sure it made any difference this trip.