Thank you all for your responses. I am in the process of reading the AA Wiki now so that should answer most of my ??'s that I posted earlier.

One thing that seems a negative is the Star-A vs. oneWorld alliance strength. What are the opinions of those that have experience with both? One benefit for me is flying US and LH while getting full, 100% credit for UA miles. It seems at first that some oneworld partners are stingy with that credit.

If I was to do a PL challenge, what would be the best time to do it in 2009 to maximize the benefit of carryover, or do I do it early in '10?

Again - thanks all for the quick responses.