Hello Everybody,

I thinking of switching program and would like some expert opinion/view. I currently have United's Mileage plus program and finally managed to get premier gold (and therefore star alliance gold) for 2019. But since I live in the south of the Netherlands and not flying that much with United I'm thinking of switching to a different carrier which has more flights in my region, so I can also benefit more from the airlines benefits instead of the alliance benefits.

I’m thinking of staying with star alliance. They just have a lot of member airlines (although sky team has KLM which may make sense if I fly from Amsterdam), and the airlines in my neighborhood are Brussels airlines and Lufthansa. But since Lufthansa has the most flights it sound like switching to Lufthansa makes the most sense. However, I also understood that Lufthansa’s program isn’t one of the best out there. They seem to credits less miles for flights than United i.e. and you need more miles to get to silver/gold, etc… What do you guys think?

Some general info from me:
My goals are primarily:
getting star alliance gold
getting awards such as upgrade to premium economy of business class
Buy upgrades & flights with award miles

Airport which are closest to me:
Primary: Dusseldorf, Cologne and Brussel
Secondary: Amsterdam

I do fly between 25K & 50K miles a year. Half of it for business to US.

Also since I still have around 55 miles with United’s program, should I just buy flights with these miles? Or are better things I can do with those award miles?

Thanks!