I need some help for next year. Here is my situation:

I am currently with United and American Airlines. I fly ~ 100k with United and 30k miles with American.

I'm thinking about switching next year to using a Lufthansa FF# for the United flights.

The trouble with United is that the vast majority (90%) of my flights are actually operated by Lufthansa. For my PQD requirement, I check every time I book to see if I can get an 016 ticket number. Sometimes these are more money, and since it is a business expense I can't justify spending additional money for personal gain. Once I got an 016 ticket number for the same amount on a very complicated itinerary and that is all the PQD I have earned this year. I do use the CC to spend enough to wave the PQD requirement for Platinum but it means I can't get 1k.

My hesitation is that I want to be able to use the redeemable miles for leisure travel. I'm not sure how available Lufthansa miles are for reward redemption and if I can book through other star alliance partners with Lufthansa miles. I also have accrued significant miles on United, but I'm not sure if it is enough that I should start spreading them out to other programs.

My goals for the miles are in order:

1. Future reward flights to take me and the wife to cool places
2. Status to make business traveling easier - economy plus, priority boarding, lounge access in EU
3. Ability to maybe sometimes get free upgrades (overbooked planes, etc)
4. Ability to use miles for award upgrades (this is really far behind the others - I do fine in Coach on overnight flights - only if I have to land in the early AM and work all day would I consider an upgrade).

So the grand question is: Should I use a Lufthansa FF# or continue with United? It may be worth knowing that I am based in Boston, MA. USA. Target areas to visit are Greece, France, New Zealand, and Australia.

Thanks for any info!