Thank you. Yes, I could take the HA nonstop and earn, but my reading suggest JAL is the better economy product.

I went back and looked at what aa.com has to say about JAL -- "You can earn AAdvantageŽ miles when you fly on Japan Airlines marketed and operated flights and Japan Airlines codeshare flights operated by Japan Airlines affiliate airlines J-Air or Japan Transocean Air, or other oneworldŽ carriers." This seems to require that a JAL operated flight also be marketed by JAL, i.e., not a Hawaiian codeshare, to earn AA miles.

Would OneWorld benefits still apply, in the case of a JAL operated flight that was marketed by Hawaiian? Even if so, I'm not sure how to get the AA frequent flier number attached.

I appreciate anyone's insights on these questions -- thank you.