Originally Posted by
jdotj
DL is very dependent on KE because of DL and KE's TPAC JV, resulting in DL having a lot of feeder flights from most of its hubs to ICN and KE would connect pax to other destinations in Asia. The JV indirectly discourages DL from having fifth freedom flights in Asia.
United honestly isn't all that different in this respect. In most cases, if you end up at a United spoke (e.g. SIN, TPE, HKG, ICN, PVG, PEK, MNL), you're on your own for the rest.