Hi,

I used to be a OW elite back in the day when it was still easy to earn status with AA & BA. When that stopped I haven't been loyal to any airline, it just seems that it is so hard to benefit from the programs these days. Both in terms of collecting a meaningful amount of miles as well as getting to elite status. But I hope that you can give me some helpful insights. Here's my info:

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.) : BRU, fares from DUS or AMS are sometimes significantly cheaper and then I fly from these airports.
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.) : I usually fly discount economy, sometimes premium economy. I have never booked Biz, only used miles to fly Biz
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k): 25-50K (close to 30K) These are the miles I fly, because I fly discount economy I usually only earn 25% of this
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Silver, M&M Senator etc) Nada, nothing
(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.): Benefits like seat selection, the occasional upgrade, early boarding, perks that come with elite status. (I've got a priority pass so the lounge access is more or less taken care off although many lounges don't accept the pass when it's busy)
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc) Nothing particular. I'm writing this from Canada, next year we go to Equador, Japan, & probably also Vietnam. The year after it will be somewhere else.
(7) Preferred Airlines : I'm not familiar with * Alliance airlines except Brussels & TAP. Those are nothing special. I have used those during Covid for EU travel where I just picked those that offered direct flights. For longer trips I don't mind making a connection to fly on an airline that can earn me a little extra.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Yes I can choose the airline

*Extra: I've got a Miles&More CC that stops miles from expiring after 3 years and helps in building up a meaningful balance of these miles. It looks like this would be the program of choice but if you fly discount economy it's almost impossible to get elite status with LH.