I know lots of you guys are worried about which airline to credit to, and I concede the AE has devalued their points a lot this past year.

However, what do you gain by crediting 40K miles to OZ or A3? Is lounge access really worth more than the 40K miles? From my glances at the A3 forums, it seems hard to redeem miles with them. Additionally, I've read that you only get lounge access on, let's say, A3 Star Gold if your boarding pass is marked with your A3 number. So then this forces you to keep crediting to A3 to enjoy the benefits.

So then aren't you rapidly accruing miles that are far less useful than AE or UA or US miles?