Originally Posted by IHateLHR
One small thing that was suggested to me when I had the same issue (although my travel is mostly US-UK) is that the AA elite status doesn't get you into the Admirals Clubs in the US. For those always ticketed in international J and F it's not an issue but you the likes of you and I travelling on (hopefully 'upped) Y tickets the lounge access in the US is a quite a big deal.
The AA Platinum status gets lounge access in the states when travelling "internationally" that day . Unless the OP has a lot of "domestic" travel in North America, this will not be much of an issue. Trips such as US-UK or US-HKG have no lounge access issues.
Dave