Hi Happy and Efrem

Thank you for your replies.

1/ Noted with thanks
2/ Regarding CX (not CS), I've had mileage from CX be accredited to my AA account before along with Dragon Air (CX owned) although it does have a significant time lag.
3/ I will likely keep AsiaMiles and AA. This leads me to the next question of what frequent flyer programs would help to cover the majority of the routes throughout the world. Since most of these programs accrue balances over lifetime I figure it would be best to start early
4/ Is there any way to permanently qualify for programs? and if the threshold for a program is exceeded, do those miles ever role over? EX: program requires 100K, flyer earns 200K. 100K rollover to next year's qualification?
5/ Thanks for the hotel info. I'll definitely keep that in mind and do some cost benefit analysis per booking.