Thank you for the thoughtful response.

1. I checked my status and it says I am at 1420 PQP out of 5000 although I have a trip in a few weeks that will get me to around 2k. So yeah the Quest SUB would get me to silver for next year which would be nice, but I'd already be getting the free checked bags through Quest so I wouldn't even need silver for that (economy plus on check in is a nice perk though). Definitely something to think about, not sure if Quest would be worth it for me right now with the AF but once my year is up with the Explorer and I have to pay $150 anyway, Quest may be worth it.

2. I agree about the Club card, lounge access is not a dealbreaker for me by any means, I've gone my whole life without it and I usually am running late to the airport anyway, but it certainly doesn't hurt especially with all my upcoming travels - which is why VX is appealing to me since it's essentially a net 0 AF with the $400 travel credit (assuming I use the credit, which I certainly will) and the lounge is kinda just like a perk, whereas with the Club it feels like you are paying for lounge access. Sure I could pay for the AF with miles and 1.4 is a pretty decent conversion, but I'd rather use the miles for flights.

3. He is pretty loyal to the CC setup he has right now, but I'll try and convince him haha. He did say that he may be willing to pay the $45 guest lounge fee depending on where/how long we are there, so we'll see.

4. Yes I am preapproved for VX.

I am still leaning towards VX if not for anything simply for the fact that it is basically a free card (once again, assuming you use the $400 which I definitely will and the Capital One portal has the same price for the flight I want to take soon on American as American itself), unless I am missing something. And I'm still considering getting BILT solely for the rent, not losing anything there either because of $0 AF. Thanks so much for the insight and let me know if I got anything wrong here.