de facto
He ASSUMED and did not COMMUNICATE his worries which lead to a dangerous decision.(and lets not start talking about the possibility of a dangerously low fuel level as if that were the case ,i hope he would have elected to land on 22L even if the winds were a tad stronger than his sops).
ATC did react to his distress cancelling the initial approach clearance(Poor RT by ATC there,should have said some like,clearance cancelled,maintain runway heading,vectors 31L) by instructing the crew to maintain runway heading,(rather than telling to continue approach)this is a radar vector which should have alerted the crew that a contingency plan was in progress...
Dangerous decision? It appears to me both safe and smart if his fuel situation was as reported 6,500 lbs. The tower told him to fly runway heading, which would have put him right in the middle of traffic departing. The departure runway in use was 31R, 31L was closed for construction. All SIDs are LT direct CRI or OGY. AA was not given any traffic after he made his left turn off the approach to 22L for his visual to 31R for the simple reason there probably was none. The tower gave fly runway heading because it was probably the only thing he was permitted to give.