I am not "beating up" on Celestar, though I have suggested some discretion in where these things are posted and wonder if we are doing any favours by broadcasting such news (as with the CX policy on deeply-discounted fares and this one) on the AA site rather than here in the CP one which those most affected would be monitoring.
As for my other comments here and on the other forum: join CX, QF or BA if your travel is going to be 90% international since these programs actually offer superior access to AA's lounges than does AAdvantage, and those are the carriers you are most likely to be flying. Using AAdvantage as a "flag of convenience" is, to me, as odious as is the practice in the shipping world when companies register the ships in countries with much laxer employment and safety regulations to skirt those of the countries they most often operate to and from.