I know you're being tongue-in-cheek, but there WAS another way to view seatmaps on AA.com that Mr. Hayes didn't avail himself of. (That said, I personally still don't think he was in the wrong). There is no other way to view the fare rules on AA.com. So perhaps the more simple answer to "why" is -- AA sucks.

A good way to put it. The only way I know it generated a PNR even though the booking wasn't complete as there was a time I was trying to book a ticket for work and AA's site was having trouble. It wouldn't complete the process. So when I went back in a little later to try it again, I had 5 PNRs sitting in my account, and none could be booked. It was a real mess until they timed out.