Just remember that he can only do the AA Lack-of-Challenge once. So if he is not going to be able to retain status next year, he only benefits from it this year. If he can only make AA Gold challenge then I can see much point. If he can get to AA Plat (OneWorld Saphire) then he can get QP access for the remainder of this year and for his next year (depends on what month joined etc).

The down side is that he will now have points isolated in two programs. Once you isolate points, the benefits of any status bonus might be quickly lost.

If he is unlikely to travel in the US, then any AA upgrade benefits are likely to be useless for him, while QF points can be used for rewards or upgrades on QF flights.