My first thought when I heard about this news was getting going on a booking to SCL or EZE. I've been wanting to go there for some time and I just get the feeling that LAN is going to go away.
I don't think this is the straw that breaks the camel's back, but AS's strategy of being a free agent is starting to show serious cracks. I just got back from TLV for business this weekend and I couldn't book El Al due to Shabbat and Rosh Hashana holiday. I had to take LH, which is the first time I've flown them for something other than intra-European flights. I was quite pleased with the soft and hard products, particularly in comparison to BA which both run 747s to SEA. The connection experience at FRA was a lot better than BA's at LHR as well.
They need to partner up with one of the alliances... I'm having a hard time cobbling together itineraries with their partners when they participate with just a fraction of an alliance's partners. For instance, I can't fly AA domestically or Iberia internationally, but I can fly BA. I can fly Condor to FRA (who knows how long this will last), but I can't connect on LH and earn miles. I can fly EI to Dublin, but their connection times with the SEA flight are very hard and the only other option in DUB is really RyanAir. South America is likely going to get a lot tougher as well. I continue to think OneWorld is the best option for AS...