Another thing to keep in mind is that the FAA recently increased the average adult passenger weight that AA and other airlines use to calculate load/balance.


For AA, it is more cost-effective to move baggage to a later flight than to bump somebody.

Moving bags involves:
1) labor to remove the bags and re-tag them for a later flight
2) labor to process delayed baggage claim form at arrival city

Bumping somebody involves:
1) labor to remove the bags and re-tag them for a later flight (if applicable)
2) labor to process the rebooking for a later flight
3) IDB compensation