Actually, for some 8 years I am Elite level in at least two programs

LH FTL since 1999
AA PLAT 1999-01 and EXP since 2001, 2MM (PLAT FOR LIFE) since 2006

My travel pattern is the following:

Mainly Europe-Latin America
Intra Latin America
Some Europe-Asia
Maybe 1 RTW (Business) a year

Generally I fly some 70% paid Y, 30% J/C. Upgrades are the most important thing for me. Can afford to pay B-Class in Economy.

BIS over the last years:
2002 177.731
2003 148.611
2004 163.298
2005 173.373
2006 214.064

For 2007, in the beginning of June I will be at around 50k EQP at AA (100k needed for EXP) and 60k miles on LH.

I have planned a RTW in OW (DONE4) which should give me EXP anyway.

Shall I go in parallel for SEN this year?

And then how shall I proceed? Take full advantage of my status? Or concentrate next year on getting maybe a SkyTeam elite (FB,CO?) in addition?

Status is only useful if you plan on using the status on the airline/alliance after acquiring it.

The only reason I diversify is to level the playing field and take advantage of earning/redemption arbitrage opportunities because, after qualfying/requalifying for a status, I'll use it in the following days/months/years.

Agree with what GUWonder says, plus also status benefits are generally better on the home airlines. Having elite status in more than one alliance improves options available to me, but for some this may not make sense (eg if most travel is to & from places served mainly on the one alliance). Having elite status in more than one FFP within the same alliance is for arbitrage and extra status benefits in home airline.

Note LH is one of the easier programs to have dual status strategy on due to only needing to qualify every 2nd calendar year (or even every 3rd if you can qualify during Jan-Feb). If you qualify for SEN before the end of 2007 then that will last until end February 2010.

Reasonable advice, but it would be for an opportunistic strategy, as not always I can 100% decide on my travel plans due to client restrictions. So 2 top-level tiers would be great. (I consider SEN Top level as HON is out of the reach for a modest guy as myself).

I've always had top tier in two alliances as it gives you great flexibility. This year I'm going for 3. UA 1K (almost there already), AF/KL Plat (almost there already) and BA Silver or perhaps Gold.

We were top status on UA and AS for many years. Then, when we closed our Portland office, and stopped flying to PDX every week, it got to be too much flying, so we dropped back to just UA.

I miss being an MVP Gold at times, but as long as we are flying first anyway, not having status doesn't seem to make a lot of difference.

I agree that flexibility is important when possible. However, in my case, I barely requalify for EXP each year and I've decided that the perks I receive as top tier with AA outweigh the advantages of being mid/low-tier in two or more programs.

I can make this work because I am able to choose the airline I fly in virtually all cases, plus I am able to opt out of locations not served by AA. If either/both of these variable were to change, I would probably rethink my strategy and go for mid-tier with 2 or 3 carriers.

Agree flexibility is the key.