My 2 cents:

It is becoming more and more disheartening to see other carriers, DL in the past couple years and CO more recently adding very cool and potentially lucrative destinations. As others have said here and other threads, AA just doesn't seem to have the stomach to develop a new market. Clearly there were strong indicators for DL to add a bunch of service to Africa and the Middle East. CO is beginning to do some of the same. Assuming that information was available / researchable to all carriers why has AA been sitting on the sidelines so long. They grow in Latin America because its a strong market for them, so seeming relatively less risk, but why not grow some and take on new markets? Pretty soon there won't be a whole lot if any underserved markets to cherry pick.

I've been a strong fan of AA and the AAdvantage program and being an EXP for the last 5 years I've benefited nicely. However, I'm starting to really worry for AA especially as the new United will be VERY formidable competitor and DL too. It seems there's a certain critical mass that may be needed to truly explore new potential routes and services and AA is just like an iceberg slowly drifting, melting and parts crumbling away. I'll get my lifetime Platinum in a couple months and just hope they stay around or whoever acquires AAdvantage will honor the perk