Originally Posted by PHL
Rather, the fact that pretty much every CO destination is already served by a * carrier would be enough reason to not admit them. They wouldn't bring much to the table. USAirways rounded out the alliance nicely with more extensive East coast coverage, as well as a vast Caribbean network.
United has yet to approve US' merger with HP - absent that approval, the UA/US codeshare agreement can be discontinued and US eliminated from the Star Alliance altogether (since US' presence in Star is wholly dependent upon the UA/US codesharing arrangement).
There is no question that CO could deliver far more benefit to the Star Alliance than US Airways. CO's route network is much more complementary, with hubs and route network strengths that can offer much more synergy (i.e., $$$) to the Star partners than PHL/CLT/PHX/LAS ever could. As one example, LH and SQ would greatly benefit overnight from beyond-gateway codeshares at IAH and EWR.