Mods feel free to move, I couldn't find the right thread.

I am trying to choose between going for status on AA and AS.

I recently reached UA MM status (Lifetime Gold) and UA has devalued the difference between gold and higher status enough that I am climbing off the UA hampster wheel. I have previously been AS MVP 100k (I was in the first year of that status and several years after) and AA EXP (2006-2010 or so), so I know both programs and both airlines well. I value both mileage currencies highly. I am based in the East Bay of the SF Bay area. I fly 80-100k miles a year for business. Regardless of where I seek status, once acheived I would fly AS anywhere I could get to nonstop, then AA anywhere else I can get to nonstop, then the easiest connection between them, with a preference for flying out of OAK on AS. I am happy to pay ~$100/hour for first class either as a fare differential or a paid upgrade. I am happy to align my credit card games with whatever strategy I choose (or both, I'd like to keep earning miles in both programs). I think I would be able to retain Atmos Platinum or AA PlatinumPro going forward.

AS will match my UA 1K to Platinum (75k) and give me a 3-month challenge to keep it (20,000 base miles).
AA will match my Hyatt Globalist to Platinum Pro and give me a series of three 4-month challenges (60,000 Loyalty points) to keep it.

Here are my thoughts so far, divided into the value of the status to me and the ease of the challenge to get there:

Statius Value - The most important elements of status to me are:

• Extra legrrrom seats at booking - It looks like this happens at Atmos Platinum and AAdvantage Platinum
• One World Sapphire status - It looks like this happens at Atmos Gold and AAdvantage Platinum
• One World Emerald status - It looks like this happens at Atmos Platinum and AAdvantage PlatinumPro
• Complimentary Upgrades - Flying out of SFO on United I am used to never, ever getting these. While I understand that AA elites are prioritized on AA metal and AS elites are prioritized on AS metal, I have no idea how often I could expect them at a high level of status
• Accelerated points earning - This is pretty opaque to me with the new systems
• Special handling during Irrops - I had good experience with both airlines when I was a top tier elite, not sure how well it works on each others' metal
• International upgrades I can actually confirm in advance - Since I have no recent experience I don't know anything about this, but it looks like Atmos doesn't really do this

Ease of Challenge:

• It appears that the AS challenge is based on base miles only (no CoS increase) and AS/HA hardware only. This means for the duration of the challenge I would be changing in Seattle a lot
• The AA challenge requires three trips around the merry-go-round, and it seems like a high threshold but I can't really tell how hard it is to hit.

I would love any thoughts, opinions, or things I've missed.

Thanks.