An ORD service would be neat ... for purely selfish reasons ... to minimise the time on domestic flights within US. It's a huge let down to spend 18-19 hrs on SQ in J to be followed by 2.5-4 hrs on domestic Y.

Which sort of raises another question, that QF and CX seem to have good arrangements within US for interlining onto AA - you get seated in Premium Economy (aka First ) on the one through ticket, usually on a QF or CX business class codeshare which considers AA First as Business (except on Transcontinentals). With SQ to fly from their entry points to the US either you fork up for F (not allowed under many travel policies) or connect thru on separate tickets in Y it seems.