LAX to LAX

So why didn't they just continue the flight if they're going to waste all that gas?

lol thats a very good point!!

It all protacal if there something going on you dont continue the flight you land at the nearest airport. With this Airplane it was to heavy to land so they burned the fuel since this airplane cannot dump it and returned to the airport. Sometimes when something like this happends. If they safely can they will try to fly to an airport where that airline has maintance. In this example AA has there own maintance guys that work at LAX and not contract. if they land at a contract airport the airplane may be out of service for longer because they dont have the parts to fix it. Sometimes the airplane is flown broken with out PAX to an airport where it can be fixed

FAA requires that in case of anything that affects the air worthyness of teh aircraft , the pilot must land at the nearest appropriate facility. This LAX us the nearest. Just like Jet blue last year with the stuck nose gear.

There may be other issues other than a blown tire ( look at the concorde ).This way you are where you can get the aircraft on the ground immediately,plus you need to figure in runway length and the aviability of Emergency equipment to handle the worst case scenerio.