Stumblefoot,

I'm going to talk you into jumping off the ledge.

While I like F9, their FFP is a complete dead end. As you mentioned the lack of intl partners seriously devalues any miles earned and the elite bonus is rather poor.

The 50k+ of travel you're estimating will give you the perks of AA platinum/OW Sapphire status, along with the 100% elite bonus.

I could go on addressing some of the negatives of F9's current status, but I'll leave that for another thread.