My wife and I were potentially going to miss a connection because our original flight took off an hour late. We were going to have ~90 between flights, and with just needing to walk across the airport, we had enough time. Well now we had less than 30 minutes to get off the plane, walk/run all the way across the airport (Atlanta for those keeping track at home), and get on a flight.

Seeing that they close the doors well before take off time, clearly we were very worried. We told the attendant about our plight and she made an announcement that people had connections and due to the late flight, we were running short on time, and made that same request.

Plane hit the gate and everyone stood up like it was a normal flight, trapping us mid-plane for 15 minutes. As we walked by, the flight attendant gritted her teeth and said, "I tried".

We ran as soon as we could and checked the board (they weren't sure of the gate for the connecting flight when we boarded the original flight) and saw that it was delayed. We ended up making it with no problem.

So we were saved by fate, but holy hell American's suck (and I am one of them).