Originally Posted by
Dave Noble
Stick with AA - with Platinum status , you will be earning a minimum of 1000 miles per flight on the short runs ( vs 800 credited to QF in discount economy ) and have much better redemption rates
This is IMHO the correct answer.
bpauker will have Qantas lounge access (before qantas/oneworld flights), minimum earn as indicated - indeed, the current AAdvantage program is far better in earn/burn than that of Qantas'.
Note that Credit Card miles/points earn is relatively stingy when compared with such in North America, and even worse if you wish to credit to AA. (Best that can generally be done is an Amex card with Membership rewards points that can be transferred to to AAdvantage at 40,000:25,000.