If you can make it up to 100K on either AA or UA, that unlocks some doors in terms of international upgrades. Some of the destinations you listed from the east coast to Asia/Australia are 10,000 miles one way with a west coast connection. If you were going to hit that marker, there are some very distinct differences between what AA and UA offer at that level in terms of international upgrades on their own metal (min spend, amount of upgrades, fares, rules, destinations). Looking over all those destinations, are you sure you're not going to fly that much in a year?

One thing with AA's current distance based program is that partner metal may accrue less than full miles (0 on Cathay, 30% on JAL, 50% on Qantas). The AA codeshare can work you around that. I'm not up to speed yet on how all that changes when AA goes revenue based in the fall.

Tom in Las Vegas