Originally Posted by
CanadaAAguy
As everyone said the earlier flight would be better. My only concern for you is if the flight cancels. The my experience past 6 months for me on those routes is that you can be upgraded and then disappointed when your flight cancels you'll be lucky to get a good main cabin seat on the reaccomodated flight. These 762 airplanes are getting old, plus issue with pilots flying these routes (they are all retiring).
The mass retirement of international pilots at the Captain rank affected the schedules of the 772s and 763s. AFAIK, the 762 schedules were not affected.
The 762s might be getting old, but AA is planning on having them around a good long time. Look at the recent cabin and equipment upgrades, including the GoGo service. Also, AFS routes (especially JFK-LAX-JFK) are actually quite profitable for AA thanks to lucrative contracts in the entertainment industry. So, the 762s aren't going anywhere.
Of course, cancelations can happen anytime, and indeed, are more likely to happen with flights that are super-early in the morning or super-late at night.