Hi all,

As is probably often the case, I've joined up because I am completely confused about these FF programs and could use some guidance. I'll start by answering the standard questions.

(1) What is your home airport?
YVR

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Economy tickets of all sorts - not sure the what all the letters mean

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
The past few years has been 25-50 but this year and for the foreseeable future I'll be doing 50+

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
Silver at KLM and Silver at United

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Frequent upgrades on travel and free lounge access are top of my list. Basically I just want to be comfortable despite being restricted to economy and economy plus seats. That said, I haven't really looked into what I can get with redeemable miles

(6) Which routes do you fly most often
Mostly YVR to Asia plus some inter-Asia. Some US and European flights thrown in. Planned itinerary below.

(7) Preferred Airlines
No real preference. YVR being my home, Air Canada seems to offer the most direct flights.

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
Travel for work and am restricted to Economy/Economy Plus tickets. No restriction on airlines.

Basically I am trying to figure out whether it makes more sense to go with MileagePlus or Aeroplan (although limiting it to these two could be me showing my ignorance). I have Silver with MileagePlus (and KLM) but AirCanada offers more direct flights to my typical destinations. I should do more than 50K this year, but maybe that doesn't matter any more since everyone is going fare-based and I am buying relatively cheap tickets.

Here are my travel plans so far:
Tokyo
Melbourne/Auckland
Beijing/Seoul/Taipei
Singapore/Mumbai
Lexington/Charlotte/Boston
Bonn/Helsinki

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!