For those of you who do not have Financial Times subscription (like me), the Google catch has the material. If a DL-AA merger really went through (which I doubt), then I guess the alliance that loses it will be in big trouble. I hope they will not go to ST, as then OW would be facing a life-threatening challenge. On the other hand, the potential (but not so likely IMO) DL-AA merger may result in a OW-ST merger, similar to that of ST-Wings, since neither alliance can survive well without an American carrier. Other than the US market, oneworld and SkyTeam does not have serious overlap (except IB and UX), and compared to that with *A there are a lot more long-standing co-operation between OW and ST members (e. g., CX-VN, JL-AF, JL-KE, MH-KL, etc.). AS would also be able to join an alliance and not get worried about having to choose a side.