Hey guys, first post, thanks in advance!

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Number one priority is ease of upgrades/award bookings. I don't mind copays as long as it's significantly cheaper than normal business class fares. Status and lounge access are also a plus.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
Reply: Right at about 50,000 miles. (2-3 RT from East Asia-US, some inter-Asian flying, 1 RT elsewhere)
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Deep discount economy for regional travel, and cheapest available business class for long-haul
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Mix of Business and Pleasure
(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: ICN/TYO/PVG-LAX/ORD/JFK/WAS/MCO
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: SHA and PVG
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: Currently SQ Silver (soft landing) and CZ silver
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: A little background: Because I pay my own way, I'm always on the hunt for the cheapest available business class that earns miles/is a decent program. When available, SQ is my favorite. The company's fares from TYO-LAX in J are excellent, but if I'm not flying to LA, it means I have to take two separate flights just to get from my origin to my final destination...and if I'm pressed for time, that's not an option. For some reason, with the exception of PR, PVG's business class fares to the US are substantially higher than other comparable east Asian cities (ICN/PEK/TYO/KIX/HKG); as a result, I frequently have to take a hop to Seoul or Tokyo in order to save a couple grand. I thought I had the whole thing figured out when CZ was offering 1700-2100 RT J fares from ICN to LAX all last year, but apparently, they've wised up (closer to 6000 USD now for a mediocre product..no thanks).

I'm flying SQ NRT-LAX next month, and will probably fly CX NRT-HKG-ORD/JFK-HKG-NRT this summer, and (again, probably) AA PEK-ORD-MCO in the fall (all business class). I currently don't have any oneworld frequent flyer program, but would love to know the best way to maximize my miles on those last two itineraries in order to work towards upgrades/business class awards in the future/which airlines have decent availability. If AA, I'll probably also get one of their credit cards for a further mileage bonus boost (because most of my expenses in China are cash, the credit card aspect isn't terribly lucrative for me).

As well, if there are any status tips for challenges, etc., I'd appreciate those, too (although much less important to me than being able to redeem miles for upgrades/awards).

Alternatively, I could fly all of those routes on *A (as well as MCO-PTY-GIG in D on Copa RT), and rack up a bunch of miles but a) that means flying United instead of Cathay on ULH and b) United's availability on China award flights seems non-existent. Am I looking at it wrong? Or does anyone know another *A carrier with good award availability at a reasonable number of miles?

Sorry for the probably excessive information, I really appreciate any help. Thanks!