First of all I fly mostly out of STL, MEM, and MCI....
The last couple of years I've been mostly driving for my work but as my dad is getting older I'm starting to take on more responsibilities in the business and am going to start flying more more this year than in years past (for instance my dad is a Premier Exec on UA for life and is currently executive plat on AA)

This year I'll probably only attain low level elite status...but in the future it is quite possible I'll be flying alot more.....

My travel will mostly be on a fare dependent basis as I basically have a sales like job with great flexibilty in where I'm going most of the time.... and basically jump on cheap fares...for now

So 95% of the time I'm going to be traveling on cheap fares....
Most travel will be to major cities in the states with 4 or 5 international trips thrown in mostly to mex or caribbean (can pay my dad to us his miles for those crazy AA locals in the carib though) maybe a trip to Europe or Asia if I can get a cheap fare for the times I would need to be there for conventions...

The most important thing for me is at this point is probably the ability to get good fares consistently, after that upgrades at a low level elite on cheapy fares, and then bump likelyhood (if they really differ much)

I was thinking about a skyteam member (usually seems to be at least one cheap fare on either CO, DL, or NW where I'm going)but have a question....when I'm flying on DL and CO will I get EQM's towards NW elite if traveling on cheap fares? Thinking about NW the most right now but still not sure...

Thanks for any advice...you can give me...or maybe some help in things I'm not considering etc..

What program would you pick for me and what did you pick for yourself and why?