<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ajnaro:
I’ve been Executive Platinum on AA for several years, but I am now seriously considering defecting to United simply because the choices in Oneworld are so limited. Does anyone know if OW is seriously thinking about opening up to new members? The rumor that went around the board was that BA had blackballed Swiss because BA was afraid of the potential competition within Europe as well as the possibility that the BA hub in London for long distance connecting flights from North America might be hurt. Not to mention the fact that Swiss is allowed to code share and credit AA mileage across the Atlantic, while BA is not, potentially attracting more traffic to Swiss. </font>
I suppose from Brazil Oneworld is limited. Just as Star is limited from Australia (with the demise of Ansett, they have no coverage for the whole continent, though Star is scrambling to solve that problem). I doubt that BA black-balled Swiss, despite the oft-repeated story about that ... AA is now code-sharing with Swiss on 20 flights in Europe (this makes Swiss almost the same as a Oneworld airline, for AAdvantage purposes). This deal probably makes Swiss viable and ensures its survival in the short term. Oneworld is overdue to announce a new airline. The obvious need in Oneworld is in Asia (and JAL is the major prize).