I'd rather fly through a hub and spend x amount more hours flying with *A than any other airline, even if the alternate airline and routing is cheaper and more convienent. I get lounge, priority bag handling, and priority checking and standby and I do not want to lose that. Plus I get more miles that are of more value to me. I'm not old enough to wine about cnx's through hubs quite yet.

I always fly AA. If American is unavailable, I fly Alaska Airlines. When in Argentina, I go with Aerolineas Argentinas. :)