Originally Posted by
nloui
2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply: Tripit says 56,000 miles so far this year, last couple years have been about 100,000.
The 100K level at both UA and AA offer international upgrades (systemwides/global upgrades). AA allows use of systemwides on any published fare on AA metal while UA requires at least a W fare which can be at the higher range of coach fares (and if you don't clear you've spent extra money that you won't get back beyond the lowest coach fare in the market).
UA upgrades are also good on Lufthansa though I've never used them there and you'd need a UA flyer to comment on the rules involved.
AA upgrades are good on BA but only on full-fare coach, so would not be of use to you there.
AA offers first class lounge access at the 100K level on any international itinerary - comes in handy in places like Sydney or Hong Kong which have stellar partner lounges. Also arrivals lounge access at LHR.
The problem with AA and SFO, though, is that it is not an AA hub so if you're flying AA metal international you're going to need to get to LAX or DFW. With UA, you're not going to have that issue with Asia or Australia. I have the time to make the connections (and my upgrade from Sydney later in the month on AA metal just cleared, so worth the LAX connection for that).