I am seeing some parallel discussion in the other thread. You may want to check it out:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ance-gold.html

You should start researching on airlines in 3 alliances (for example: Star Alliance for UA; One World for AA/Cathay Pacific...etc). A good strategy is to credit all your (BIS) mileage within the same alliance to one single FFP.

See Other Asian, Australian and South Pacific Frequent Flyer Programs Forum for discussion on EVA Airways (BR). Based on my experiences (flying economy between the States and TPE), BR tends to be more expensive than UA.

Factor in the easiness (or difficulty) in redeeming miles, even you are only eying for (quick) elite status. You don't want to end up with miles that are impossible to use. So Delta is out of the window . I don't know how favorable Aegean is with miles redemption though. You better look up these different airlines and see how FTers (dis)like them.

Judging on the (regular) routes (SEA-TPE) you are going to fly/travel and/or redeem miles, I think a U.S.-based FFP may serve you better in the long run. Are you based in Seattle? Some use Alaska Airlines as their main FFP for strategic reasons (codeshare agreements). Aeroplan can be another possibility.