Thanks again, folks. My international flights are quite varied - most transatlantic through AMS to various European destinations (Madrid, Rome, Cork, Salzburg, Nice) and additionally on to JNB, so KLM is a key with the NW partnership. Transpacific is primarily PEK and SIN with an on-going connection to PER. I do the JNB, PEK and PER trips once each year and would be quite interested in any creative suggestions on routing and mileage acquisition with the goal of busines class travel. As I have said befor I have been wed to NW/KLM due to MSP as my base. Your advice seems to be to keep with WorldPerks for FF status.

Esteban

Esteban,

With these flights, NW seems to be a far better choice than CO. CO has agreements with AF and other international carriers, but flights on them don't count toward Elite-- and as an example, you cannot earn OnePass Status miles on any carrier into JNB. The JNB trip(s) alone might bump you into an extra higher Elite tier, so I would stick with NW.