I'm currently Gold on SQ's FFP till Jun 2011, but I won't be flying SQ much -- probably only 1 or 2 round-trips per year between Shanghai and Singapore, and I might just decide to redeem miles for this rather than buy SQ tickets. Hence I'm seriously considering changing to another *A FFP.

I will fly regularly from Shanghai to North America or Europe on various carriers, mainly *A and ST. Needless to say, my home airport is PVG. I travel last-minute, only in economy and I don't get to pick airlines or fare class, but not too likely to be on heavily discounted economy fares. I will not be racking up miles in any other way other than flying. Here's a summary of my flying history for this year so far.

Mar: PVG-MUC-FRA-ICN one-way on LH B/H, ICN-PVG one-way on OZ V
Apr: PVG-ORD-SAN-SFO-PVG one-way on UA V
May: SHA-PEK round-trip in CA S, PEK-LAX round-trip on CA B/L, PVG-ICN-LAX round-trip on OZ M
Jun: PVG-FRA-BUD one-way on LH M, CAN-FRA-STR-MUC-PVG one-way on LH B
Jul: PVG-HKG round-trip on FM B/L

I'm currently considering LH, OZ and UA -- if there're other FFPs which you think would be ideal for me, please recommend!

I did a calculation of what my flights this year would've got me now on the various FFPs. I'm not sure they're 100% correct, but I hope they're close enough, at least!
SQ: 70000+ EQM --> Gold (*G)
LH: 92500+ status miles --> FTL (*S)
OZ: 69000+ status miles --> Diamond (*G)
UA: 76000+ EQM --> 1P (*G)

Most important assets of the FFP I should be on (in rough order of preference):
- Gives bonus EQM/status miles to alliance partners, not just their own flights. I'm likely to fly the most with LH, followed by CA, OZ, UA and TG.
- Better possibility of op-ups, be it alliance-wide or own-airline-only, that's fine with me.
- Lounge access
- Priority check-in and/or security lanes, priority baggage
- Ease of qualifying and requalifying
- Lifetime status (which *A FFP other than OZ has this??)
- Ease (and cost) of redeeming award tickets

Additional question, since LH status qualification is based on the calendar year, if I decide to go for LH FFP, should I start putting miles on it from Jan 2011 onwards? I don't think I'll have enough by the end of this year to make it to SEN. In the meantime I could keep putting miles on my SQ (or another) FFP, if on SQ then I would most probably requalify for Gold and gain another year of lounge access as a buffer.

I have to decide FAST, as I'm flying PVG-MUC-BUD-FRA-PVG tomorrow, and would hate to waste the miles on that!

Many, many thanks to all the help I've received so far and coming.