I have about 40,000 miles on AA and try to concentrate most of my flying on SkyTeam (I got comped Silver status... what can you do?). I have a South American flight coming up, and I decided to throw caution in the wind and book on LAN. My hope is to continue flying to South America a few times a year, and it really bothered me that many LAN fares did not qualify for full mileage on AA.

I'd just like a collective review of my circumstances, to make sure I'm doing the most sensible thing:
-->I do not need any lounge access, thank you Priority Pass (*highly* recommended).
-->I am not sure about future travel, though I hope to be traveling more to latin america on business about a year from now. Until then it's all leisure travel for me, I'm more or less price driven. That said, I virtually never have problems getting a low fare on a SkyTeam carrier, or American Airlines.
-->Elite status on AA seems relatively unexciting until you get to Plat. Even if my travel patterns were to seriously change, I can't imagine making more than Gold on AA. I figured most of the benefits I value most (priority boarding/check in, slightly better customer service, no luggage fees) would be available if I made low-tier elite on LAN, I saw no real reason to stick with AA.
-->My understanding is I have greater opportunities to get full credit for LAN flights, and virtually all booking classes on AA get me full credit with LANPass (this is absolutely not true in reverse). I also would not be totally barred from earning or redeeming miles TATL on BA. So I'm gaining access to more flight options with LAN, and don't appear to be sacrificing anything.
-->Redemption levels for mileage flights appear to be roughly identical for the types of flights i'd be looking for (give or take slightly for distance-based OW flights).

Is there anything I'm missing? From what I could tell, I didn't "gain" anything by crediting any other carrier, though Cathay would leave me in the same spot. Is there any benefit for Cathay vs. LAN vs. AA that I'm not considering?

THANK YOU FT!