AA EXP desk is just as good as DL PM/SMS (maybe better), but AA Plat is nowhere near as good as DL; so your experience will improve dramatically once you make EXP. Thankfully I was Plat for less than a month on AA (during which time I wondered if I had made a mistake in switching), but once reaching EXP the problem was solved and I have been very happy with AA ever since (despite having some horrendous delays and very irregular operations). I will say that both AA and DL have a very fine premium reservations operation.