I don't think you get lounge access with AA. Except for a few exceptions, such as transcon in F, there is no lounge access on "domestic" flights on AA. You have to join the Admirals Club for a fee. Domestic includes flights to Canada.

ONTOH your goal is to use the miles to fly to Asia out of the U.S., then AA is oneworld and that means you can use your AA miles to fly CX and there is nothing like CX for a long haul to Asia in F (140,000 AA miles, 110,000 in J, which is also pretty good). CX flies out of NYC.