I'm planning to fly MIA-LAX for Presidents' Day weekend. At the moment, there is a flight, AA 1536 (a roughly 2 PM departure) offering Flagship Business for $599 and one seat in Flagship First for $944 -- a $345 difference.

Now, usually, I'd be an unlikely candidate to pay for either; I'm a United loyalist with 1K status on UA and zero status on American. And, even if I were flying AA, it's pretty tough to spring for the $599 one-way in J (not an awful price in absolute terms) when American is selling Y for the jaw-dropping price of $94. (And $69 on the return!)

However, I'm sitting on an unpleasantly large trove of both AA flight and trip credits, many of which are expiring this spring and summer. As such, I'd like to put them to good use, and the best possible use, given their value, appears to be a Flagship transcon.

Even so, is the $345 fare difference between J and F on this route worth it? On the one hand, I could probably find another use for those $345 in credits. And it is only a five-hour flight for which I'd already have Flagship Lounge access and a lay-flat seat. But, on the other hand, true F is a rare breed (especially for a Star Alliance loyalist), this seems to be the most economical way to get it, and I'd like to try Flagship First Dining. So, I suppose, I'm curious whether the lounge service in Miami (and LAX, if I get access?) is sufficiently back to pre-pandemic levels, and whether the in-flight service will even vaguely mimic what UA/AA international First felt like a few years ago. (I have no expectations of a BA/CX-type experience onboard.)