And where exactly dd I use the word "DEFECTION", I believe my words were (with original typos, "hae dsappeared over the years due to insolvency". EI left, because they became a LCC, it is not that EI is changing, but rather that 1w through its welcome of AB has extremely lowered its standards. Swiss had in fact agreed to be a 1w member and for a bunch of reasons never enetered, much of this had to do with BA trying to "roll" them, considering the fact that they later did join *, that is a big diference(and I do recall 1w materials with Swiss on them at many airports for a short time). Canadian and Mexicana are two more examples of lost carriers. Again other than CO (and its controlled carrier Copa) leaving due to the purchase of NW by DL and CO's later purchase by UA, ST has never lost a carrier, and has only grown.