I have concentrated on Delta b/c I lived in the South and it was easily the most convenient but the program is not what it once was. And I now live in LAS.

I fly about 7 times a year. say 5 paid, 2 award. this= 68k actual paid miles = 100k MQM = 136k Sky M
I do not buy F tickets but M ie lowest price upgradeable on Delta - I don't know what that is on other carriers or if you even need to be at a particular fare level to upgrade.

M fares cost me about $1600 per. F fares are much, much more.
I will happily fly thru hubs to save $.

Isn't there a problem with splitting the miles in that I wont get bonus miles u/l I'm in an Elite category.

Sorry I'm not familiar with StarAlliance, what is that?

Does this help?