Originally Posted by makoto14

i use to fly AA alot for work, so I didn't have to pay out of pocket so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

i was a explat on AA for years with my flying via work. You are right it's easier to achieve OWE even with the changes in advantage, But explat is so watered down, it got to a point before covid where system wide upgrades on tras pac was a rarity, the domestic free upgrade list was so long on popular flights that my name wouldn't even appear on the first page of the list at the gate, monday mornings they had entrance restrictions at admirals clubs because of fire code. Yes you can take explat OWE in Japan and go to the JAL F/J checkin, and F lounge ex haneda and narita for sushi, hamburg steak, and curry. But with explat you wont get any JAL upgrades and cant use those miles that American gives out like water to upgrade on paid tickets. That's about all the difference is I can remember.

Anyway the kicker for me was if you go AA you will have to fly their metal transpac to get those bonus loyalty points. if you fly the code share JAL flight the price will be just as high and you earn less points as a codeshare. And in the end that's why I ended up back to JMB and FOP because I didn't want to fly in a newish but kinda dirty AA 788 a bunch of times a year and connecting through LAX/DFW everywhere i go in US. Would prefer to just take a direct JAL flight to YYZ, Boston, NYC, SD, SFO or ORD. If JAL can get 2 flights a day of a 351 with 12 seats on F and 100+ seats on J to JFK, no idea why AA cant get a single 788 or 789 direct flight from JFK-HND on their metal with flagship first.