I know there's "weather, " but dry all day here and mostly in dfw.

Lots of dominoes in the "weather delay" and only occasionally is it related to your origin or destination.

You can usually get better information very quickly from a number of online sites (for free) than AA (or most airlines) will give you.

The incessant appetite of the public for delay and cancellation statistics tends to add to the "rolling" delays. I saw one SEA-DFW flight that was delayed 19 hours, but it still operated.

What's the alternative? If there are passengers/crew on either end and insufficient lift elsewhere to support them, the flight will operate. Whether you delay the flight 19 hours or cancel it and run a one off 9xxx flight on the same route 19 hours later is a distinction without a difference for the end consumer.

It is amazing how such a small thing can completely change how one feels about a delay. If I know I'm delayed 1.5 hours, I can relax, stay in the lounge, stay home even if originating etc.

I recently flew Frontier for the first time and we were delayed due to a late inbound aircraft due to maintenance and then maintenance. Got prompt text updates through the whole thing. Went to the CL, was able to hang out with family flying out elsewhere later in the day etc.

What exactly is the business justification for rolling delays followed by cancellations? I usually fly Southwest, which has its share of meltdowns, but if they are going to cancel a flight they usually do it before takeoff. AA always delays over and over until canceling, which is extraordinarily frustrating especially because they refuse to hire enough American/English-speaking CSRs to handle it. I was caught in four hours of rolling delays before a cancellation last night and DFW was full of lines to service desks. Why does this happen so often with AA specifically?

They're at least trying to find a crew to operate the flight, likely figuring out (and then constantly recalculating) the series of cancellations that will inconvenience the least amount of customers the least, and allow them to continue operating as many flights as possible. WN has proven that their IT systems can't handle reassigning crews on the fly, so their hand is forced to cancel outright.

I'm not convinced that is a better system. They might theoretically operate more flights but I'd bet it actually decreases customer satisfaction.

It's all subjective and depends on your personal preference. I've been on 3 AA flights that have been delayed 12+ hours. One I was originally on, but the others I jumped on to get onto a flight with almost nobody else on. I prefer this system of running flights, no matter how late, rather than cancelling and then filling up every other flight (and thus likely ending up in a middle seat) - eg let the people who need to get where they're going jump ship, and I'll take the scenic route. However, I don't often have tight deadlines to get to my destinations, so can enjoy the extra time in the lounge. For the most part, I can track (and do enjoy tracking) the inbound flight and know what time is actually realistic for departure. I'd also rather them post more unrealistic times so everyone stays in the gate area - this is particularly pertinent on international flights where there are more strict rules on baggage, so one pax who wanders off can cause the whole flight an additional delay while they remove a bag.

I would agree if the delay times were realistic. Last night we were given a new time, and the plane arrived, boarding was about to begin, and all seemed well. Then they suddenly pushed it back 45 minutes and the reason given was that the plane needed to be cleaned. Then they delayed another two hours before canceling. Unless there was a genuine hazmat situation, they were just lying.

The weather was the major issue with the delays and cancelations at DFW yesterday. We received 5” of rain, there were some serious storms, wind, lightning,etc. They were trying to keep the flights going as best they could. It also meant that FA’s that were working a flight were getting removed if they were going to run out of hours, or finally getting a plane and only waiting on the pilots to get there from the flight they were coming in on, only for that flight to get diverted or delayed even more. Then reassigned to work another flight.
My family member that is an AA FA was scheduled to work a flight late afternoon. About 2 hours prior to departure the flight was delayed 2 hours, knowing that if it was delayed another hour they were going to be timed out from working it as they would not have enough “rest” to work the flight the next morning on their schedule. They had no plane, then finally had a plane, but waiting on pilots. That flight I guess was diverted or delayed coming in. Scheduling moved her to another flight later that evening. That also ended up being delayed, then able to board but waiting at gate to push back for what seemed forever. But I could see on the radar there was a long line of flights waiting to take off. Not sure if they held the flight for incoming pax from another flight since they had the time due to the long line to take off.
Even the crews are scrambling and many have no idea if their flight will get off or delayed or canceled. Then what flight they will get reassigned to work, if at all. Forced to deadhead to catch up with the rest of the crew to work their next flights.
They want to get those flights to that next destination as it has other flights that it’s planned to make, so they would rather roll those delays and get it off the ground.