Originally Posted by kiwiandrew

I doubt very much whether the individual members will disclose the reasons for their vote. While I think *A to a certain extent have painted themselves into a corner on this issue I still think it would be very unfortunate if they, and 9W, find themselves punished because of AI's inability/unwillingness to meet the standards that they agreed to nearly 4 years ago.

Part of the problem, from the enthusiasts point of view, is that we will never know the full story, so much goes on behind closed doors. What is clear is that no other candidate member of any alliance has found themselves in this situation after having initially been accepted as a future member. If the reports are true that up to 10 of *A's members are unwilling to vote for AI's accession that suggests a serious level of concern about their fitness for membership rather than simply a vendetta or political gesture on the part of one or two airlines.