Chairman's Preferred: I also fly US Airways a lot... Pref. Plus with them. I've experienced the same good level of service you have and typically have no upgrade problems. But, as you have stated, the weaknesses become apparent as you leave the east coast. American has a wonderful product as well. It's less extensive on the east coast but the advantages of their international and transcontinental route structure are significant. Not to mention the worldwide capability of the oneworld alliance.

One word of caution: I lived in Miami for several years and flew both US and AA extensively. Connecting through MIA is a NIGHTMARE, particularly for international flights. I used to dread coming back into MIA: poor baggage handling (all airlines), customs is a royal pain in the backside, etc. The only real exception to this is the new Terminal 1 that British Airways uses. Transfering on AA in MIA will be a FAR different experience than you have gotten used to with CLT, PIT, and PHL (all easy to use for connections in my opinion). Keep us posted. Cheers