I became DM the hard way (almost weekly HKG-SIN coach travel) back in 2011, a few weeks before I moved to SIN, and have largely been based near NYC for a couple of years. Still a DM.

However, a big part of the decision to stick with CX had/has been the fact that, save for the covid period/immediately after, CX made/still makes up a substantial part of our longhaul travel (wife been a GO through most of the same period). While not great of late, we still have a distinct preference for CX for our reasonably regular travels back to SIN.

For now, sticking with CX. Enhanced award availability for DMs helps (very decent and each time I’ve checked), as do the mileage/BUD upgrades (JFK-HKG is my primary CX longhaul route now, and it ain’t great for op-ups, see a lot of last minute mileage/cash upgrades these days).

Do agree with CarefreeBA about the lounges in the US- I do skip them reasonably often- including the fairly decent SoHO lounge at JFK a couple of times (family of four with 2 sub 5 yo kids- a walk around watching planes works better at times!).

Also, CX is a relatively ‘hard’ program for status, and awards in general are ‘expensive’. Sure American programs have poor burn rates most of the time for travel on their own metal (lots of value on partners), but I can find reasonable (relative to coach) forward cabin fares more often than not. AA not giving MCE to CX elites also plays a role.

So unless CX is more than a reasonable part of travel plans, I would move.