There is zero value to have AA Gold or Platinum status if you already have Emerald on another OW carrier. That said, AA miles are worth considerably more than QF miles. For my use of miles over the past year it works out to 2.3 QF miles = 1 AA mile. This ratio will be different for everyone, due to the break points in the various plans -- it all depends on what you use the miles for, and in fact there are some redemptions where QF is worth more than AA. There are many differences between the rules (an amazing number for airlines in an alliance; even the ONEWORLD awards offered by AA and QF have different rules, with the AA rules being better). These rule differences increase the value of AA miles. But my own opinion is that EXP status is really mandatory to make AA worthwhile (however I also think the QF plan is only good if WP, and even then is marginal due to having far too many WPs). An interesting strategy for someone doing one RTW per year is to alternate between AA and QF plans, making top-tier in each plan in alternating years. This would seem to significantly increase the benefit of being in just one of the plans. The AA plan changes announced today makes this fairly easy to do.