A coworker of mine is going to be moving to Singapore for 2 years in a few months and I offered to help with flights/status etc since I've been a FT enthusiast for years. Anyway, he and his wife are currently UA members but will be in Singapore for two years. He will be commuting to Malaysia once a week for work for the two years. I thought that it might be better to apply for Kris Flyer's program rather than earning miles on UA. However, he brought up the point that he would think that it's just easier on UA since eventually they'll be back here in the US.

He plans on making one flight per year between Singapore & the DC area paid for by the company (in business class) and possibly an additional one at his expense as necessary. In addition a weekly flight between Singapore and Malaysia. So would UA be sufficient for star alliance purposes or are there benefits to Singapore's program? Thanks!