Hi Everyone!

First time to post even though I read many of your posts through Google.

Question: Is it worth getting two cards within the same alliance?

Situation: I travel about 100,000-150,000miles/year. I live in Osaka, Japan where I cover a region from Japan to India. The other flights I take are to the USA where my family lives as well as work meetings (Seattle). I will travel to the USA 5 times this year. A typical year of traveling looks like this:
USA/Seattle: 3-5 times
India: 2-3 times
Malaysia: 4-6 times
HK: 1-2 times
Singapore: 1-2 times
Indonesia: 1-2 times
Philippines: 1-2 times
Thailand: 1-2 times

Alliance: I am a 1K member on United. However, since the mileage plan is terrible next year I am thinking about moving over to Thai Airway because about 80% of my flights are through Thai Airways or other Star Alliance flights.

What to do?: I am not sure what to do because on the long flights to the USA I really enjoy getting the first class bumps. However, when I get into the Royal Orchid group through Thai Airways I will get first class upgrades as well.

Other Thoughts?: Does anyone have a better suggestion? I am torn at the moment. I think my plan is to get to Royal Orchid status as fast as possible, then when I am at that level I will split between the two plans. I want to keep some miles in United because even if I do not get first class bumps in 2016 I will still have a lot of miles to upgrade.

If this sounds crazy, do you think I should move over to a difference mileage group?

Thanks!

miles