Originally Posted by
herculesc
Thanks for the feedback.
In 2012, I'll likely to fly to US for 4 times (2 to the east coast, 1 to Chicago, 1 to San Diego), Japan for 3-5 times (mostly to Tokyo, one to Osaka), China for 2 times (Shanghai and Nanjing).
For USA bound flights, I'd prefer making connection in NRT in stead of HKG. Does that make JL mileage bank more suitable?
We still need more informantion. What class are traveling in--first/business/full fare economy/discount economy? What do you want--lounge access? free flights? upgrades?
Given your opposition to HKG, you probably want to fly AA flights (assuming J, my preference would be AA-coded JL flights). You will easily make Executive Platinum, which is probably the best published oneworld status. If you sign up for a platinum challenge before your first flight, you would start out with platinum as soon as you landed.
But if flying in discount economy, you may want to consider JL, as AA only earns 50-70% of the mileage for JL discount economy flights which you would be flying to Japan.