Yes ... another one of those threads! I haven't found a good answer to this question on the boards yet.

Seeing as I'm nearly to 1K on United now, I am thinking about adding some status on oneworld so I can play both sides of the fence. For the balance of the year, I will probably be flying at least another 30,000 or so miles in biz class and another 10,000-15,000 in midrange-to-cheap economy.

What program would you recommend for me to bank miles with? Miles accumulation is not a huge objective, but reaching a high tier status would be my top priority. Although I live in the UK, I'm not too hots on BA, frankly. Given that a lot of my travel is to Asia-Pac and the US, I would probably split my flights between CX, QF and AA.

At the moment, I'm leaning towards AA because when I fly on my personal budget it will be in the cheap seats, and I want to be able to benefit from lounge access, potential upgrades (e.g. domestic U.S. upgrades) and 100% earn on low fares. But one of the problems with being top-tier with United and living outside the U.S. is that I don't get lounge access on domestic U.S. flights, and since about 60% of my travel is not on UA the other carriers tend to regard me as scum of the earth. I wonder if having status with AA would put me in similar straits?