The 'Elite Challenge' is an unpublished promotion by AA, so it is not be found at their web site. You can read all about on the AA forum: look for the sticky post, right at the top.

L does not earn mileage on CX but does on AA/BA/QF. You can check on aa.com to see what it earns on the airlines involved in your LONEx fare routing. Minimum level for lounge access is Platinum. Some airports have free or paid showers (e.g. LHR, SYD) and most have paid lounges that you can use (these vary from quite good to abysmal, and cost also varies greatly). The LONEx is a deeply discounted economy fare and most airlines will treat you like that (no benefits or entitlements). That's why most discussion on this forum is about the DONEx and AONEx fares.

If I remember correctly, as an AA GLD, you are entitled to OW Ruby benefits.

Really worth having

As far as J class service (overall), here's my list.

CX-BA-LA-AA

Oneworld lounges.

CX-BA-LA-AA-IB

LAN is quite different from other airlines that I have flown before. 1st the crews didn't really speak English on flights between AKL-SYD. The food was just not enough at all for the flight from SYD-AKL, the reason is the meal they served can only get you started your meal, there were passengers complaining about amount of food they serve.

No great expertise here, just observations from our (near complete) RTW in J -

Longhaul J seats: Of those we've been in, QF Dreamtime and Skybed, CX A340 beds, BA NCW, and AA J (F) 763s, the ranking couldn't be easier.

1. QF Skybeds - comfortable, well thought out, 110v power, shoulder space.
2. CX beds - a big drop in points from the Skybeds, but better than the others. The angle and slippery surface complaints are valid.
3. BA NCW - again, a big drop from the first two. Narrow at the shoulders, too short for tall people to stretch (try the fetal position for 11 hours); opposing directions is weird and makes the window seats virtual prisons overnight, plus either I or Ms. 'Loo have had serious mechanical or condition problems with one or another (or both) of our seats 100% of the time. Too clever by far.
4. AA 763 J/F (depending on where you are) - way too narrow but great leg room.
5. QF Dreamtime (743s) - almost as bad as AA F seats on 757s or MD-80s. No, wait, that's not fair to QF. But rather disappointing given the Skybeds.

Service - CX, 'nuff said. QF 2nd, BA 3rd unless Gate Gourmet has decided to make you eat arsenic pretzels instead of lamb chops. AA 4th or better, depending on phases of the moon or something.

Meagre contribution ends.

F : CX/BA/QF
J : BA/QF/CX
Y : CX/QF/BA

You never make any mistake by booking one of those 3 ones

Actually, I'd stick AY in there somewhere.

J: CX/QF/BA/AY for service

Is the BA NCW bed or QF Skybed horizontal? If not, any wedgie issues?

BA=Yes, QF=No.

I think Lan's First Class is being underappreciated here. Yes, the seats lack the bells and whistles of CX, QF, BA and some AA 777s, but they are comfortable (to me, they are the most comfortable in terms of the seat, especially the 767s). I find Lan's F food to be the best in Oneworld and closest I've seen to restaurant quality. Service has been outstanding in my experience, with only 5 seats and 2 FAs. I've had a good run of having F to myself. Lan looses points with its lounges (weak in SCL), however.

Cathay is great and, to me, the overall best. My BA F experiences have all been pleasant, so no grounds to complain. Until AA gets Suites installed on all 777s, I cannot reccomend it. Qantas was good on my only F flight with them, but it was only the BKK-SYD leg of the QF 2 and you could tell the service was somewhat scaled-down.

Just a few more thoughts from my AONE5 earlier this year and a subsequent trip. Note, I can only compare the 747s on CX/BA/QF and 777 on AA, did not fly any other aircraft in int'l F. Total of about 11 segments.

For seat comfort I really didn't sense much of a difference between CX/BA/QF, they were all great. AA suites are the best overall seat when you factor in all the bells and whistles (e.g., swivel, work area, drop-down armrests -- which CX has too), but they lack a decent cradle position for relaxing, even though they are just as good as the others in flat position. Though subtract a few points for weak IFE system compared to CX AVOD).

As far as seat layout goes, CX probably wins by virtue of only 12 seats vs. 14 on BA and QF. Then BA probably gets the edge over QF because of additional privacy from the herringbone layout and easier access to overhead bins, though the additional privacy also can mean additional claustrophobia for some. AA is pretty good, but 777 just not as nice as the nosecone of the 747.

For service/food, my experience was CX-QF-BA/AA. BA and AA were more hit-or-miss, a bit more consistently good on QF and very consistently excellent on CX.

Not sure I'm with you all the way on this. Sure the seats are comfy - though a 13 hour flight would've been very different to the 5 hours I recently experienced. As for service, I found this to be lacking - an empty F cabin save for the two of us and as many flight attendants should've made this exceptional. As for restaurant quality food, all we were offered during the 5 hours was a choice between a fruit platter (how can you go wrong with this in South America?), an omelette and a very uninspiring list of sandwiches. I suppose at least we had a choice, which is proabably a fair bit more than the folk in J and Y had. Even so, it seemed like poor value.

But then in the South American market there's no competition to speak of unless you pick up the feeder flights on the major routes (eg BA / LH from GRU down to EZE).