Very helpful thanks!

Will be floating around Asia a fair bit but my bread and butter route will be TPE - MNL something close to weekly and only direct options there are Eva or PAL as far as I know, and hell no to PAL

Really the only reason for the switch is hoping to pick up upgrades with Eva Diamond status as I'm stuck in economy for short haul. I'd assume op upgrades pretty rare with only *G on a different airline as they'll take Eva elites first? I don't know how realistic it is to expect semi-regular upgrades in any case though, perhaps an EVA regular can advise?

Second reason is hoping to get a Eva CC of some kind as a Taiwan resident, though I don't know how willing they are to hand those out to new residents - that one probably outside the scope of this forum though.