I had an interesting experience flying into College Station, TX (CLL) on AA4916 last month. Most of the time, it's a bog standard night flight from DFW on a CRJ-700. On my flight, the captain warned us that we might not be able to land in CLL because:

• The main runway, 17/35, was closed for maintenance.
• The other runway, 11/29, was a little over 5000 feet long and not equipped for instrument approaches.
• We couldn't land on 11 because the lights (VASI) were out of service.
• There was a slight tailwind. (10 mph, 180°)

Sure enough, the wind didn't change direction, and our flight returned to DFW. Most of the passengers I was talking with got home the next day, and so my story ended. It wasn't the end of AA4916's troubles, though. Over a five-day period, this flight

• June 24th: Diverted to DFW
• June 25th: Diverted to DFW
• June 26th: Diverted to DFW
• June 27th: Was delayed until 7:56 the next morning
• June 28th: Was delayed until 9:57 the next morning

I was curious about a few things:

• I don't understand why the flight crew only said "we can't land because of tailwind" when the direct tailwind was only 3-5 mph. Was it really the tailwind, crosswind, short runway, or a combination?
• Have you ever seen an airport that was temporarily limited to only one direction like that?
• American didn't compensate any of the passengers on my flight, claiming weather. I would assume they did the same for the other flights. Do you agree with them?