Dave Noble

The AA scheme may devalue, but doubt it will devalue anywhere close to that of the BA scheme which has never imo been good for long haul redemptions with huge surcharges to pay

I would seriously consider whether LT Emerald is that much better than LT Sapphire and whether it is worth the throwing away of thousands of dollars in value with awards and loss of complimentary upgrades in the process

96 Systemwide upgrades can have a points equivalent or 2.4m plus $33,600 if would otherwise wish use miles to upgrade from discount economy to business to Europe or to Asia. If not making use of the SWUs then value would not be there but 96 SWUs is something to consider

AA Sapphire already gets access to better seats and free award cancellation and no fees for close in bookings

What waitlist improvement would BA Gold give you over AA Platinum? Also, do you generally purchase expensive fares since attaining status is definitely targetted much more on spend than distance travelled with BA

A waitlist priority improvement will only assist you for booking paid tickets - if wanting to use AA status to upgrade domestically using 500 mile upgrades, will need to use the AA FF number in the booking