F
I Would suggest the following:
Forget taking AA and upgrading for the flight through Europe. I would seriuously consider doing the flight on BA J class, in my opinion it is as good as AA F. Also, take CX as often as you can, and QF. As regards not getting status miles for the BA flight on AA, consider joining the QF program. Just one short RTW in biz will probably get you all the way to exp plat equivalent on qf.