The OP does raise a good question that hasn't really been answered: With these upcoming program changes, is it better to bank miles with AA or collect WestJet rewards?
For me, the analysis looks something like this. I fly most often between YYZ and YWG. For easy math let's say I pay $500 for a round-trip. I can credit to AA and get 1872 miles as a basic non-status member, or credit to WS and get 1-5% or $5-25 back in rewards.
I value my AA points at about $0.02 each. I figure 25,000 points gets me a round trip in North America, and that's worth about $500. (I could get more bang for my buck by redeeming for int'l business class flights, but let's keep it simple.)
So with AA, 1872 miles @ $0.02 ea = $37.44.
With WS, as a lowly Teal I'm only getting $5. As a Gold I'd get $25.
If my motivation is to maximize return on the rewards, it seems like a no brainer to keep banking with AA. However, WS does offer the advantage of being able to redeem for any flight.
Anyone else look at this and come to different conclusions?