If you guys go to the US a lot and fly 100k miles p.a. then AA or UA make a lot of sense since they give out 6-8 system wide upgrades. Tommy has mastered this but he flies enough to get both 1K and EBG.
I manage to always upgrade from economy thanks to this system.
Actually, if you are going to Asia then you can also use the UA SWUs and miles on LH.