I believe this issue hasn't been discussed recently, but please forgive me if it's repetitive.

I just began a new job with fairly regular international travel, and have so far this year gone from several years of no elite status to both AA Gold and (after my next trip) UA Premier. I expect to have enough travel for the rest of the year to make 50K on one of these airlines without too much trouble. Which one would folks recommend that I go for? (I fly out of the Washington area).

I am leaning slightly toward UA for two reasons. First, I figure that UA Economy Plus is a more limited seating area than the "greater legroom" across the board on AA, and I can thus use Premier Executive a little more to my advantage to get into E+. Second, I am thinking that if I get to 50K by fall I could try and do a Platinum Challenge mileage run to even it out for a year.

Does anyone have any advice on these issues or any other good/bad points between the programs? Thanks!