And one other huge new improvement that I'm surprised isn't being discussed here:
AA.com now lets you book multi-stop awards online!
I just checked LHR-JFK (stopover), LGA-DFW, DFW-LHR. It explicitly said:
"This international award allows a stopover at New York - JFK for no additional miles. Mileage required for both flights is displayed on the Award Legend for the international flight."
and priced the whole thing out to 40K (off-peak); bookable online means no phone fees.