Attempting to determine whether a flight took place We had some houseguests recently who were scheduled to take American Airlines flight 2953 from SAV to ORD (May 16, 2019). They called and said that there had been a mechanical problem with the plane and that the flight had been cancelled. Since I had the flight information, however, I had already been tracking the flight status, and I saw that the plane was still scheduled to depart, and then I saw that it had taken off and landed, albeit with a delay. (The guests came on another flight the next day.)

I didn't confront the guests, of course, but I am curious to know whether there is any possible explanation for the discrepancy (i.e., other than that there was some other reason for the delay that they didn't wish to share with us). Could the flight have been cancelled and then rescheduled without their knowing it? Could the plane have been returned to ORD without passengers, and it showed up on the flight tracker as the regularly scheduled flight? Or is there some other possibility?
That flight did indeed happen:

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL2953/history/20190516/1632Z/KSAV/KORD

It was scheduled for 12:22PM, but actually left the gate at 1:43PM (about 1 hour and 20 minutes late).  

It was scheduled to land at 1:28PM, but actually landed at 3:25PM (about 2 hour late).

It looks like it took an extended detour to Missouri to avoid a weather system, resulting in the extra delay.

While the flight was not canceled, it is possible that passengers were offered free re-booking opportunities due to the weather system.  Your house guests may have taken that on the belief the flight might be canceled.