I disagree that AA is awful, I think since the merger with US Air where they certainly had some issues they have improved a lot. Next to flying Alaska Airlines which is who I mostly fly with they are my second choice. I flew over 100k miles domestic (including Caribbean) miles in 2018, will be about that number here in 2019. Alaska takes pretty good care of me, American has a decent first class and their premium economy is decent and the service is not bad. Delta, First Class seems more compact and the flight attendants are not as pleasant as Alaska or American. I have not flown Delta in coach in a few years and have not flown United recently. At one time or another I have had status with all four of these airlines and they have all had their issues along the way.

Yes American has an issue with the Max 8, but that is not their fault when they were working to update their fleet. I like the progress that they have made and if it wasn't for Alaska expanding their routes I would go back to AA over Delta or United.