The cards were due for a refresh since AA has a new logo. The design is more in line with the current trends from the competing banks. I agree the executive should be metal, and the lack of an AC logo is pretty crazy they need to fix that. However clubs and partner clubs should be verifying membership via the Aadvantage number anyways. Otherwise people would use cancelled cards for access. I've never showed my card just my boarding pass or AAdvantage card but haven't used partner lounges like AS or QF...