I want to thank crazyMRer for his very helpful response. I'm Plat for Life on AA but didn't used to qualify for Exec Plat and found it pretty easy to be BA Gold. My clients pay for business class internationally, although if I'm doing marketing for my firm (we don't do much, but I'm one of two owners), I'll probably fly WT+. I fly less domestically for work. Some clients pay for F. Others don't.

I like the BA lounge access (easier to achieve with BA Gold) and to use the FF miles to take my family on vacations. I used AAdvantage and BAEC miles to take the family to Bali, Cabo, Europe, etc. and to have my college age kids fly to Europe for summer trips. I liked the stopovers in London, where we have relatives and I have clients, even if the family vacation was in Greece or Italy. The new Avios take that away and I think crazyMRer has convinced me that, for my use, AAdvantage miles beat Avios even though I will still fly BA. So, for me given my usage/desires, AAdvantage beats Avios even with the potential cost that I don't hit Exec Plat and can't use the First Lounge.

Other people's interests may vary. Warm nuts? Meh. But, if I can make better use of the AA miles from BOS, that works for me. If you live in New York or London or Dallas, Avios might be better for you. Thanks again, crazyMRer. [I've yet to do a MR, but maybe in 2012 to hit Exec Plat].

And, it is not at all clear, as crazyMRer writes, that one should stay within one's own country for FF programs. On Star Alliance, I made the *Gold on AC this year, but if I am going to fly at that level, it is possible LH is better and if my miles drop, I can hit Gold again on Aegean with 20K miles rather than the the 35K required by AC. I might need that if I am taking BA to Singapore rather than SQ.