Are Qantas or American codeshares better for points/status when flying in the US?

Hi just starting on my quest for FF points and status...thanks for great info. Just asking for travel to Washington DC using Qantas - for the internal flight within USA flying AA is it better to fly Qantas business class codeshare or pick the 'free' first class flight that is AA-coded?

You will get more status points by flying First on AA - First attracts more status points than Business. 

Ozkid, I'm assuming you're referring to the fares known as Y-up or K-up -- the economy fares that book into the next cabin up.

As mattdc rightly says, you will get more points for flying American's First Class, even the domestic First Class product that's more like Australian domestic Business.

But bear in mind that some AA trans-continental flights are three-class, with First, Business and Economy. So you'll want to make sure you're on a two-class plane to get the points for first class, or you'll end up with the business class points.

Thanks for replies. Was booking through Qantas website using business fares, and gave me the option of flying LAX to DC using a QF code share, or AA code share but in AA's 'first class' - no change to prices. Will research some more about the AA planes, cheers for the tip about the 2 vs 3 class layout.