I wish AA followed this same policy - last year at ORD, they sent my connection out on-time after giving away my seat while I RAN to the gate from a very delayed AE flight. The gate agent laughed at me and told me to stop running; all flights were 100% full and I was traveling in paid first. What did I do?

Bought a one-way F ticket on UA; haven't flown AA again since despite them crediting me 10,000 miles for the mistake. Mistakes are one thing; bad attitudes are another. UA has its bad apples too, but on balance they have taken very good care of me in irregular operations.

I have read on the AA forum that mainline AA will not hold a flight for inbound AE pax. In ORD sadly, irregular AE ops are the norm.