Wife and I flew this (She's EXP on AA) and we used the SWUs to upgrade from Y to J. Overall, it was horrible and I can't see why anyone would ever pay for this flight. Prices seem to be the same as QF and, well, it's pretty awful overall.
Can I point out you paid for Y and got a FREE upgrade to J. Yes, it used a SWU but cost you nothing in points or cash, it was FREE.
We are doing it for the almost the same reason as you, the SWU's and the fact that even during holidays, it is pretty much a guaranteed FREE upgrade. And on AA numbers it 1x EQM. I know we can book QF flights as AA codeshare but you can't use SWU's and you can't upgrade with QF points.
I have spoken to a number of EXP's who fly it a lot recently (trying to find out about SWU's etc) and comparing it to the Transcontinental and 777-200 which I have flown. It seems pretty consistent with the AA forums on FT. The reviews are mostly positive with the hard product basically the same as CX. The soft product is never going to be as good as QF.
As the experiences seems to be the same across the board I am just going to add a few comments. They are never proactive and you always have to ask, but it is slowly getting better. The headphones are always a battle because of their BS stocktake, including them collecting them an hour before the end of the flight. Most of the time they will never do the coats (on 2 flights I asked repeatedly for them to take it and they always said they would come back). Wine is always cough. Never have the steak. Always have an ipade or book with you. It is quite a bit better on the food and wine in F but the service is still lacking.
We are more interested in the seat/bed, acceptable IFE, the full base miles and "FREE" upgrade to J. If it wasn't for that, yes, we would probably be flying QF, but if I am comparing QF Y and AA J, I know which one I am choosing.