Whoops, sorry if I didn't give enough info. Well, since I mostly just fly TPAC domestic awards (and upgrades most of the time) are not big priorities for me. Award travel between PEK and the US is an objective as well as having plenty of options out of PEK. This would normally be in economy but I might occasionally book a business award if there is a deal or certain forseen changes in my travel pattern in the future.

Oneworld currently does not satisfy this very well as they have limited China-US options especially to the west coast.

*A covers China well with CA and FM and ST is alright with CZ onboard. I believe MU actually wants to join OW with FM however their int'l options are still pretty bad.

As for the AS comment, I'm not so sure if that's a great option as I don't see myself travel domestic much or even ever flying AS themselves in the future.

So if my ~180k DL miles are worthless, what program is better with redemption?

Moondog, interesting note on the award chart, where can I find more details? Also, since you have abandoned UA this year, who have you switched to?

Happy to be proven wrong here though...and also open to other airline suggestions. Thanks!