Happy holidays to all...

I would love some advice from the experts.

Do to a career / Job change I will be I will be (for the forseeable future) doing a great deal of travel (mostly domestic) out of the NY area.

I have earned CO silver and have been comped Starwood Gold & Hyatt Platinum. I also have IC SCC and Amex Plat cards. Also have most car rental elite programs.

The question is which airline program and which hotel program would you concentrate on?

I like(d) the CO program b/c of the amex provided lounge access and the upgrades. I am concearned about the EUA upgrade policy costing me. (I also us MR a lot and have a lot of miles parked there)

Would it make sense to look at AA or UA? What is drawing me to AA is
1) Ability to hit lifetime status
2) More legroom for when you end up in coach
3) Ability for all points to count towards status (at least at AA)

For those who know these programs well -
are any of these thing compelling?

Does anyone know the # of flights from NYC and destinations for AA vs CO?

The inability to move around the westcoast on CO is a downside for me.

Also...

Which hotel program would you concentrate on. I like Hyatts, Marriotts, and Westins, etc. Marriott seems to have best mix of passable properties in lesser populated places - but seems to have a weak program. Starwood has a lot of less desirable properties. Which hotel program or programs would you choose?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.