I personally try to avoid AA at all cost simply because I don't think they're a great airline.. However here's a tip: If you know your have a connecting flight, try to get the current airline to not simply rebook you just to get to your next destination, also get them to rebook your following flight as well. If your ticket is aus-dfw-jfk-(and whatever city in germany) and your plane out of DFW is running late, get the airline to "protect" your connection especially if its a mechanical delay, but also including air traffic and weather. Once you arrived in JFK late, you shouldn't have run anywhere since you had already missed the flight with lufthansa (Unless it was in the same terminal, then definitely you could have tried but if its in a different terminal you should have stayed with AA), you should have stayed with AA, let them know that you were on a cancelled flt (mechanical), moved to another flight that was delayed, and asked for a hotel voucher (not a distress discount), as per their rule 240 or any airlines rule 240 they usually provide a hotel for such situations and they should have also rebooked you. Last tip, if you book through an an online travel service, you can usually call them rather than wait on any line to rebook your flight as they'll have way more options for you.
However this sounds like you had two different tickets, which next to paper tickets, people should try to avoid simply because they offer no protection to you if you misconnect, such as in this case AA can say "well we got you to JFK, that's our only obligation" (sadly, its true) and Lufthansa will say "We didn't bring you in late, you have to pay" (which, again, sadly is true. You gotta try and book it all on one ticket to get the best protection as possible. These are just a few tips that will help you in future travel, maybe not with AA, but you'll find (if you haven't already) that you will run into similar situations with other airlines as well.
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