Actually, just did some rough calc's of my own and was quite surprised at how close the two programs are for premium travel qualification on certain routes. Let's say someone fly's J class between SYD-LAX, to requalify for QF Platinum takes 4 round trips (well 3.75, but you can't really do 3/4's of LAX-SYD! - works out as 1280 SC's). To qualify AA EXP takes 4.5 (i.e. 4 round trips and a single one-way - works out as approx. 67,500 miles). I think this gets less favorable when you compare shorter sectors given the large mileage bandwidth QF allocates for each tier of SC (e.g. 60 SC's for 1001-2700 miles).

(Edited to fix up calculations).

[This message has been edited by mgm (edited Dec 16, 2003).]