I'm trying to book a short SFO-MSY trip using AA to celebrate my mom's birthday and all of the connections are either 25 min in PHX or 40 min in DFW

She can't run to gates (she doesn't need a wheelchair, but she can't run). As a former airline employee, booking a 25-minute connection sounds like asking to get rebooked (which in PHX would mean rebooking thru DFW anyway or waiting until the next day for a nonstop).

So it would have to be SFO-DFW-MSY with a 40 minute connection in DFW (and likely having to gate check our bags despite me having oneworld ruby or AA credit card boarding group).

Obviously if the inbound a/c is late we'll misconnect. Normally I'd advise people to book the first bank of departures from the origin station to have a better chance of starting the itinerary on time, but my mother won't be up for getting up at 3am for a 6am flight.

How much time should we allow to walk between gates after deplaning? I've never connected in DFW (just started/ended there).

At what point do gate agents start removing you from the flight when your inbound is late?

I'm kind of astonished the MCT is 40 min at DFW for such a big airport to be honest. I guess AA's strategy is just sell it on paper and deal with rebookings all day?