First, I am very grateful to those of you who kindly review new posts in this thread - a public service much appreciated!^^^

For a dozen years I was Swiss-based and flying LH/LX (and other airlines) a lot, so easily maintained Senator (and other gold-levels on other networks). Was out of that for a few years with much less frequent long haul travel, so dropped to Silver in Miles and More. Have now relocated home to the US, and unsure whether to keep in with LH or move over to UA. Need to decide soon, as there is a big Japan trip coming up! If it matters, I already have a UA account post merger (ex Continental which itself was ex Eastern - that's how old I am), but not many miles in it. Several hundred thousand miles in M&M account.

(1) What is your home airport? IAD/DCA/BWI
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? C
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? will be more than 50K a year for sure - think I may already be there but not all Star Alliance
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? M&M Silver, BA Ruby, Air France nothing anymore
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? good redemption rates, priority assistance when things go south
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? Tough to say - will be all over, but a lot of transatlantic and also middle east and asia
(7) Preferred Airlines: mostly, I go for the best combo of schedule and price, but would have to say BA, LX, Emirates and Singapore
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?) Mostly for work, a lot for pleasure. Can choose airline for business travel up to a point. Class of service for work determined by company policy but generally C (flights over 6 hours). Always travel C with family long haul for pleasure.

Thanks for any thoughts/recommendations.