It depends… What’s important to you? Most of my travel $$$ come out of my own pocket. I want to sit in premium cabins for the lowest cost. I have taken over 40 international AA flights over the past 3 + years and have only missed 1 (ONE) Y to J upgrade. Also, I have had great success redeeming AA miles for F class travel on BA, CX, and QF. (My points are not intended to degrade UA, as I don’t have any experience with them, but for me, AA is hard (impossible) to beat. YMMV.
Safe Travels