The Qantas ad is the better ad on a standalone basis.
The American ad is particularly powerful in context, that being the fact it is a "post 9/11" commercial.
Qantas' agency have gone with the aspirational, the desire, the comfort engagement with customers. If we start from the basis they are targeting discretionary sales (i.e. personal as opposed to business where company policy would rule the decisions) they are looking to get you on board (pun intended) and feel like they will take you away from the everyday and into a fantastic mindblowing holiday. The spilled orange cart is just one example of that, they're going to take you back to a simpler time, a more noble time, when people just did stuff like that as opposed to teh current high pressure environment we work in.
Of course, that isn't true, it's the rose coloured glasses effect. as we look back on things that no longer affect us we think of them as better times, it's much harder to think of current events that are causing us problems in the same context. Humans focus on the immediate, the past is the past and we blank out or at least minimise the bad because that gets rid of the pain and the future is something that, if mentally portrayed as having hope of something better, is where everything is going to get better than it is now.
And it very specifically doesn't go anywhere near price or suggestions of price, it seeks to fight for the market segment that is willing to pay for genuine life experiences rather than just getting away for a holiday because they need to and wanting to do that for as little as possible.
That's what the Qantas ad aims to achieve. I'm not sure it does it brilliantly but it is actually a clearly and cleverly targeted ad. No rushed tourism around clichés like the Eiffel tower for instance, it's about peace and nourishment of the soul in these troubled times where the media are spending a huge amount of effort convincing us how hard life is despite the fact that it generally isn't (for Australians).
The American ad as a standalone is more like a recruitment poster for the armed forces. It's not about the customer, it's too much about the company. As a customer I really don't care about the flight, I want to be at the destination. That ad appeals to people who work at airlines because it gives them a sense of pride in their company, it makes them feel good about themselves, it hits that spot very very hard. Problem is they aren't the target market, I'm guessing very few American Airlines employees pay full price for their tickets. As a standalone it simply doesn't appeal to the discretionary buyer, it's a techo ad.
But then the context comes in. Post 9/11. How incredibly powerful an emotion is it to think the after 9/11 YOU the consumer can fly with an American company using American built high technology to go anywhere in the world. Heck, the company is even CALLED American! You can't get any more patriotic than that so in that specific context, where patriotism is running at an all time high, that's the high impact point. You bring a tear to the eye of the purchaser based on the current situation (the zeitgeist if you prefer) and really tug at them to show their patriotism by spending their dollars with you.
They'll forget the jibes that the food on US airlines is usually the second oldest thing on the plane, beaten only by the cabin crew. They'll forget about the terrible service, the low standards compared to other airlines, everything that customers hate about US airlines is forgotten and even turned into a positive because "they're ours and WE are damn well going to show them we won't lie down".
Run that same ad now and it's just another bunch of techno stuff that isn't that exciting. All I want to do is get from A to B so I can start enjoying myself. If there was a teleportation device to make that happen instantly I'd take it but there isn't. So I'll go with the people who make the experience as pleasing as possible, not the ones who let their ego tell me that all this stuff that I assume they have under control (a hygiene factor) is why I should choose them. They should just do their job and get on with it, I (the customer) much prefer the people who give me that warm inner glow as I go about it.
Sorry if that's a bit long.