(1) Poor coverage in SOuth America Middle East, India Asia and US (with loss of CO)

As stated directly above, yes you are correct about South America, then again no one is that strong there, ATM is nice if you are Brazil centric, and LAN Chile is a great airline if you want to go that far West and Down (although that is about to change with their mergers. ST is by far the strongest alliance in Asia, and wil be even stronger when it gets an Indian carrier. The loss of CO is a big deal if you fly a lot to Newark or Houston, otherwise it means little or nothing (or perhaps a few distant Pacific idlands who see less than 200 pax per week)

(2) No top class airlines ( Five Star) in the alliance.
Only someone who does nto fly that often gives any credence to such Star ratings.

(3) Poor upgrades and redemption availability for Elites compared to *A and OW

Compared to who and what exactly?? Is see that you have sone status with EK and TAM, neither which are such great shakes. ST is just as bad as * and better than 1w in this regard.

(4) greater number of desinations served but fewer airport lounges (100 less than OW)

What kind of lounges and where? As was shown in the BA Open doors thread, BA opertaes less than 20 lounges around the World, many are contract lounges used by everyone at a location, furthermore, who expects a loungs in a nothing tiny outpost (for example)

(5) Very few flat beds in business class across the alliance

Compared to who exactly?? And which flat, at an angle or flat flat? I ask because I am sure that some of the airlines which you think are all flat are not (I would wager that 8 of my last 10 SQ flights for example were early 90's era seats) for example, and this is a very subjective subject.