Happy to report that I was able to use my QF Club card to gain access at ORD and LGA this past Friday with no issues (including while crediting the flights to AA and using AA elite benefits.)

In less happy news: it looks like the annual fees for QF Club are increasing across the board and international members will now have to pay the Australia rate instead of the previously available non-AU/NZ rate. I still think the number of people who do get QF Club solely for the purpose of AA Club access is probably negligible, but I can see why QF wants to close this loophole/make it at least slightly more profitable. The new rate now makes QF Club for AA Club use not a decisively cheaper deal when considering the annual fee of the AA Club credit card after deducting potential credits.