Need some advice from Star flyers. I've been a UA 1K for a number of years, but my patterns have changed somewhat and I'm spending less and less time on UA metal. This year I was able to take full advantage of my SWUs but probably that won't happen next year--and I'm falling about 13K miles short of requalifying without an MR. Given where UA is going, I'm just not sure an MR makes much (any) sense and I'm considering going into burn mode with them.

Of course, I want to keep *G status regardless...I'm spoiled at this point. So it seems like BD or AC are the ways to go, both with considerable advantages. Has anybody contemplated this choice recently, and have any advice I might not have yet considered? I'm mainly a leisure flyer but will buy higher than lowest economy and even an occasional J/C if the price is right. I'm based in Asia so neither program has a feasible geographic advantage (slight edge to AC).

It seems like AC has a better burn rate but BD trumps it on the earn. AC might have an upgrade or two while those would be thrown away on BD. The miles + points awards, one-ways, etc on BD are wonderful...but that all might vanish if LH comes in to the picture as rumor has it might happen.

So I'm kind of torn and curious for advice. The comparison is Elite on AC (35K level) versus Gold on BD (16 + 38K level) and both of them are easily achievable before my status expires with UA in Feb/March...