Yeah, I'm also seeing those sky-high prices for CAI. None of my beeswax, but are you sure the savings on the xONEx on CAI origins are worth the upcharge over some place like IST?

I don't know how close your itinerary would get you to EXP on AA, nor do I know your flying traits the rest of the time, but sure, having one of you doing the AA challenge while the other does BA is not a bad idea. If continuing the annual BA travel to maintain Gold works for you, great. Our judgement for us was that AA made more sense. Domestic lounge access is not that important to us, so the main benefit of elite status for us is all about the mileage bonuses you get with AA. But there are lots of very FFers who have both Gold and EXP and if you travel enough that might be the best scenario for you.