Wow! Can you tell me (perhaps off-list) why you dislike them so much? The reason why another carrier has to do with size. In Europe: Skyteam grows big: AF, AZ, CZ (and later most likely KL), Star (AUA, LH, SAS, Lauda Air) and Oneworld is pretty much alone (Finnair and Iberia - only small players). Adding new partners makes them more interesting. I fully agree on the Eastern European partner....

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Cheers,

Brenno.
http://wereldverkenning.nl