Unless frequently travelling to the USA, the lack of lounge access is not a big issue imo. $99 purchases a 1 month membership

Failing that , holding a American Express Platinum card affords AA lounge access

For the price of additional fees charged by BA on US-UK transatlantic for 1 award booking , can purchase annual AA lounge membership

Obviously this only relates to domestic travel where there is no connection to/from an international flight

Of course, on the plus side, for domestic US flights can get cheap upgrades