I've just worked out that I have a couple of trips to do this year and am thinking of switching from FB to AAdvantage. Flying BA LHR - ARN twice would equal 1780 R/T (890 one way) for each. Have a couple of other flights too so worked out that it would be more than 5k miles needed for a gold challenge.

But - here it comes - booking class would be N which I understand earns 25% of the miles and 1Qpoint per mile earned. Does this mean I get 25% of the 1780 in qpoints?

If that is the case I stand no chance of making the gold challenge,

I'm also interested in what the benefits of being gold/plat are with advantage. I'm reading the sticky and the AA site and from what I can tell you have to pay a membership fee to get lounge access (which is important to me) regardless of if you are gold/plat. Is this true? Because if that is the case I'll abandon the idea of switching to AA straight away. It would also save me a lot of time and frustration to know now.

I've read most of the sticky and the AA site and FewMiles site but I can't work it out. My head is spinning.

Cheers and thanks in advance for answers
/E