With an accident or "incident" of this nature, protocol is that the NTSB gets the black boxes first. Plain and simple.
Thats the rules.
This is an absolutely one of the dumbest thing this company could have possibly done. This is well below the felony conviction in the 1990's. 'Hopeful' described it accurately. It's cut and dried, black and white and clear as a bell exactly how that box should have been handled.
This company isn't Virgin America where they could blame some newby and a failure to clearly have procedures. AA has been running an airline for nearly 80 years, and dealing with incidents and accidents the entire time.
This incident is like a couple of USA Catholic High School kids getting in the Sistine Chapel at night, taking a leak on the tapestries and shooting the Michaelangelo paintings on the ceiling with paintball guns while munching on the eucharists dipped in stadium nacho cheese.
There are stupid mistakes, then there are ones light years beyond that.
Forgiving the another religious reference, but it's 'come to Jesus time' for American Airlines. Passing off the blame to a subordinate running to a holiday party isn't going to work and shouldn't. There are times when the institutional culture should be examined and a decison made by the regulatory authorities as to whether enough is enough.
Personally, I think the message needs to be sent and 2 senior executives should be sent packing within 2 weeks.