First post on flyertalk, but I've been lurking for a while and learning a lot from you folks. Here's my issue:

Just made 1K. I do a fair amount of travel to Asia, so upgrades are worth their weight in gold. So here's my question. Is there any advantage to me flying UA for the rest of the year vs AA? I have 4 system wide upgrades left on AA from last year (broke the 2M mile mark there - but that included bonus miles) that will expire in Feb. If I fly AA in business, then I have a good shot at upgrade to first (if I fly coach, the upgrade to business is iffy as a platinum member - I've missed it several times when I was executive plat).

If I fly united, I'll burn my system wides this year and not have any next year. So my thinking was AA until the upgrades there are gone, then United from there on.

However, I'm not sure if there's any hidden benifits to more miles on United this year. Would an extra 30K miles get me to GS, and does that have some benifits that I would miss out on?

I know I rambled a lot in this post, but I'm looking for people's thoughts on the scenarios.

Thanks,
Dave