One other thing that AAdvantage has going for it is that miles don't expire as long as you have some type of activity in your account every 18 months (airline, credit card, bonus from staying at hotel et al).

The Platinum Challenge used to be free, but in the past year or so AA now charges a fee to take it.

Entry to Admirals Club is gratis as long as you are on an int'l itinerary. You could have several stops domestically, but as long there is an int'l portion to it, they will let you in.

Four 500-mile upgrade vouchers are given for every 10,000 flown miles. These actually come in handy if you have to fly in the domestic network. In addition, these vouchers don't expire (unlike the system-wide upgrades) and can be used as long as you remain an elite member.

I think AA is the superior program (well, for me at least). The only weakness compared with CX Gold is that CX Gold has higher priority in operational upgrades. As an AA Platinum (OW Sapphire member), the number of opups I've received since CX re-did the pecking order a year or so ago has dropped dramatically. Of course, YMMV.