American Airlines to withdraw lounge access to Oneworld Elites on US Domestic/North America itineraries?

UPDATE: It’s confirmed as a mistake on the oneworld site – see Update from AA: Oneworld Lounge Access has NOT Changed for Emerald/Sapphire, Mistake on Oneworld site.

It seems American Airlines forgot to read the bit about alliances being their for customers as well themselves, with AA  making a small change that will have visiting Oneworld Elites (Sapphires and Emeralds) in puzzlement and possibly anger with this published on the oneworld site (http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-access/)

The bit of text I’m concerned with is this :

American Airlines AAdvantage® members and oneworld top tier status holders, regardless of their tier status, cannot access lounges when travelling solely on North American itineraries within or between the U.S., Canada, Mexico (except Mexico City), the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean.

Source: http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-access/

Now, if this is the case, this marks a MAJOR change in how elites are handled by host airline.

The point is this: If you’re on a US trip (say San Francisco to Chicago, then a long layover the a hop to New York) and you want to use the lounge in San Francisco or Chicago using your Air Berlin Gold/BA Gold/etc,  you will now be invited to pay if you want to go into the lounge.

If this is a typo by Oneworld, I’ll be happy. However, if this is true and American Airlines are withdrawing from this part of the Oneworld agreement (so you can only access lounges on International itineraries only), this represents a serious change of game.

One that would push me back to Star Alliance within a breath.

UPDATE 1:

I’ve tweeted @AmericanAir for an request for a confirmation or denial –  and I’m waiting for a response.

Update 2: CONFUSION RULES

I got a response that looked like this:

A browse to http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInformation/airportAmenities/AdmiralsLocations.jsp#oneworld shows the ugly truth:

Click to enlarge

Welcome to the land of confusion. What the hell is going on please?

UPDATE: It’s confirmed as a mistake on the oneworld site – see Update from AA: Oneworld Lounge Access has NOT Changed for Emerald/Sapphire, Mistake on Oneworld site.