Hi all. I'm a soon to be United refugee. I have another year left of 1K status, but will definitely not requalify under the new rules. However, I have 480 plus points to burn through in the next year so I'll need to spend a decent amount of time on UA metal.

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.) YYC
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.) Usually Y, but will pay more for an upgradable fare class
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k) 100,000 to 170,000 physical miles
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Silver, M&M Senator etc) UA 1K
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, free lounge access, etc.) Upgrades and a useful points currency. I'm willing to add connections and be flexible to secure upgrades.
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc) For work, I fly maybe 20,000 miles per year between YYC and TUL, DEN and IAH for around US$3,000 of spend (schedule usually means this is on UA metal). Personally I do two trips home YYC-SYD per year (AC/UA are the logical choices for routing and price, but I am open to other options via Asia or North America). I also do 3-4 long haul trips per year to anywhere in the world. Previously these were for mileage running purposes so I was UA loyal on these flights, but now it could be anywhere with any airline.
(7) Preferred Airlines To date it has been UA, but it seems they don't want me anymore
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?) Answered above

I'm trying to decide between several options:

1. Stay with UA and see where I land
I will probably spend enough next year to get to UA gold. But gold is a big downgrade from where I'm at now

2. Defect to AC
I would certainly fly enough miles to reach E75 on AC. I could also spend C$9,000, but it would be a stretch to do this on AC ticket stock next year. Since I need to burn through all the plus points next year, I can't direct that spend towards AC tickets. Are there any loopholes for earning AQD on UA tickets?

3. Asiana
I would fly enough miles to get to Diamond within a few months, and then I could effectively be a star alliance free agent after that. I could also purchase an economy plus subscription from UA for 2021 after I lose my status with them

4. Free agency / split status / something else?
Open to suggestions