I think there is merit in limiting the alliance to a few higher standard partners. It looks as if *A is begining to break up with the announcement of different levels of membership, while ST is really just AF/DL at this stage.
I think *A has become a little too big for its britches. It will soon have European airlines based in Austria, England, Poland, Germany, Denmark/Norway/Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Finland, Greece, and Belgium plus Turkey and Egypt. Not to mention three US based airlines and six Asian airlines. When will it end? I foresee it collapsing under its own weight due to too much intra-alliance competion.