Originally Posted by
radonc1
Exactly.
If you are already paying for F, then domestically the only thing you need from any airline is access to their lounges. With AA, that is made simple by getting the AA Executive card which actually gets you a discounted admission to their lounges. i cannot imagine that in someone spending tens of thousands of dollars a year on airlines would be hurt financially by a $450 once a year fee.
Flying international F already gets you lounge access so there is little need to contort your spending and allocation of trips to BA for AA domestic lounge access.
In your situation, the only thing that would concern me is schedule and performance on the route you are currently flying. Everyone has their opinion on each domestic major but for the vast majority of cases, they are surprisingly the same in all aspects.
This is not exactly true. While flying F is generally the same airline to airline, there are differences. IRROPS is one example. F with no status is just about as bad as coach with no status. And access to the lounge doesn't make that better. If a top tier elite and I both have F with him on an upgrade and me on a full fare the top tier elite still gets preferential treatment. They also get the better CSR's in the call centers. Check in is easier if there are bags for top tier elites. On those occasions where I do not buy an upgrade I have zero chance of seeing one unless I am top tier elite. The list goes on.
Free agent is great from a schedule perspective. a flight to MIA from DEN is likely cheaper on AA than UA due to the reverse hub issue. But it is not the same as traveling with top tier status. I did the free agent thing for a while. internationally there is a big difference. The middle east and far east airlines are really much better than the european and american airlines. The network is miserable though. Flying QR to anywhere in the middle east is fantastic, particularly in F. But flying ORD to LAX? pretty much the same crappy seat with similar food and beverage choices. In the first case the airline matters, in the second it really doesn't.