I am well aware of that. I also noted that AA sells a lot of AA Marketed, BA operated flights in Main that are y-up into PE with a P booking class for a minimal upfare that earn 100% in Mileage Plan.

I recently flew JNB-LHR-PHX in BA/AA PE. The underlying fare class was O which earns 25% but the y-up booked into P and earned 100%. They y-up was a sub $200 fare difference to move into PE from the Main cabin.

The itinerary was sub $1K which I thought to be reasonable for a 10,891 one-way journey that earned 27,228 RDM or an ~$540 rebate.

Rather than booking the one-way, I discovered that I could return to Europe in March, also in PE, to LHR and Main beyond on BA metal for a mere $87 more so that is what I did.

Even if AA had C space availability on their own metal, I wouldn't buy Main and earn 25% EQM just so I could use a SWU to move into J and I am certainly not going to hunt & peck for hours to find and adapt to what little C space availability there is.

I was able to use one of my AA SWUs to upgrade both BA segments on the $87 add-on for the PE return to Europe in March. It will generate another 5771 EQM & 14,428 RDM or ~$290 rebate.

Since upgrades on BA metal use the same inventory as BA awards sans the vig, availability is abundant. That provides additional utility and value to an otherwise lackluster AA only offering.

My PE itinerary JNB-LHR-PHX and now J PHX-LHR-XXX was $1047 and will earn 16,662 EQM and a $830 rebate in miles.

I had already booked XXX-LHR-PHX in March and YLW-SEA-LHR-MXP (open jaw) for late June on AA all in J on y-up fares for $1504. AA sold me the BA prime flight numbers on the outbound. Since they are BA Marketed, they will earn the 100% additional RDM bonus as per the BA charts. Of course, if A space on AA or Z award space on BA becomes available, I can use my other AA SWU to upgrade into F.

James