I have recently had a change at work and I'll be flying out to Africa and the Middle East more often, before I had M&M HON Circle status (still do) but LH isn't suitable for me anymore and I've booked flights on AA, CX, QF and QR.

My original plan was to credit them to BAEC as I'll hit Gold within a month and a bit but I've been wondering if BAEC is right for me as I do dislike BA as an airline and their race to the bottom approach.

With my currently booked flights, I can cancel them and rebook under a different airline if required for segment thresholds that OW seem to apply, for example I could cancel my QF flight to DXB and replace it with QR to DXB (works out at similar cost anyway) if QRPC was best suited for me.

On to the Q&A:
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounge access, upgrades and soft landings/easy requalification also no hard expiry of miles.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
I'm usually in and out of FRA, MUC and ZRH once or twice a week however I'm now working in a different department that means I'll be going to DXB and JNB each month with the possibility of other African and Middle Eastern cities.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
I usually get J fares for flex, although if work ask, I do go for cheaper non-flex Biz fares.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I can choose my airlines and I'm restricted to Biz, F upgrades come out of my own pocket.

I've current got flights lined up with AA, CX, QF (on EK metal) and QR.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Until the change at work I flew with LH or LX to FRA, MUC and ZRH. Now I've decided that they're not suited to me, especially with the African and Middle Eastern pivot.

(6) What is your home airport?
LHR is my home airport although I can fly out of LGW too.

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
I hold M&M HON Circle status at the moment with 150k miles left to spend (which I'm doing quite well).

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
In OW I'd like to avoid BA for flights but I don't have a preferred OW airline yet (QR looks most appealing).

Look forward to your thoughts, it's been a long time since I've flown with any OW carrier, only other airline I've flown recently is EK which I loved.

Thank you.