I have been doing more and more flights from Europe to Asia on AY and have to say my experiences has been quite pleasant.

With the new spa (free access for Emerald/Sapphire customers) in HEL http://media.finnair.com/spa/site/ I think there's even more reason to give it a try.

Most IB long haul aircraft are now fully flat (horizontal).

In AA's 4th quarter analysts call, Gerard Arpey said to "look out" for news from India and Latin America in relation to OW. I hope this means that their announcement some time ago (when they announced S7) that the alliance was "about the right size" no longer holds.

I would love to, but it would have to be good to fly e.g. SIN-HKG-HEL-LHR-NCE rather than SIN-LHR-NCE (or, more conveniently on other alliances SIN-AMS-NCE or SIN-MUC-NCE).

Don't think Emerald/Sapphire customers get free spa access. Only Finnair's own frequent flyers get free access. All others(including Emerald/Sapphire) are to pay 45 Euros for spa access.

This is going in a completely different direction that most of the posts here, but I'd like to see another US carrier in the mix. AA is awesome, especially since I live in DFW, but I oftentimes don't travel from home (think Up in the Air, although not as frequent). *A has United, Continental and US Airways; Skyteam only has Delta now, but used to have CO. I would love to have more domestic options.

AA has AS...

I'd love to see WN added but I know that won't happen :(

Agreed.
This is where QF is losing alot of pax.
Why fly, for example; SYD-SIN-LHR-MAD (Including changing terminals at LHR and wait for connection)

Emirates do; SYD-DXB-MAD (or any other Major European City)

1 less stop
Depart + arrive same day.
Less d**king around
The bus from LHR to LGW, it was 20-odd pounds last time for me.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Well you could fly SYD-HKG-MAD,

but agree that oneworld does miss from not having any airline directly on the shortest distance part of the Kangaroo route (eg EK, SQ, MH).
Although this is clearly what is planned for 3K Jetstar as it grows out of SIN.

Really ? Please tell me , who would you fly HKG-MAD on ?

Or do you mean HKG AY x/HEL AY/IB MAD or HKG CX x/AMS IB MAD etc rather than a direct HKG-MAD flight

True, I am quite disappointed that IB or CX has not considered MAD yet.

Probably because it's good for connecting to Latin America but it's too far west in Europe for connecting to most points in Europe other than Portugal and Spain.

Isn't this symptomatic of OW's problems? While:

- JL looks to jump to SkyTeam and Asia's white space grows
- the white space in Central Europe remains unaddressed (MA is no answer)
- AA is the legacy carrier in the US showing the biggest capacity reductions

Qantas the company is letting QF stagnate and aggressively expanding with a discount carrier which is not part of OW and isn't likely to be part of the world's self proclaimed "leading quality alliance".

My opinion on OW...
 

Being a travel agent and a OW SPH in SIN, here are some of my opinion in OW: -

- *A offers much much more choice than OW and ST in terms of intra-Asia flights, CX/JL is large yet neither covers the entire Asia well without connection or back track, with JL possibly leaving OW, customers will have less choice.. Where is their presence in China and SEA?

- Major cities in Europe and America is covered well by *A and OW, thanks to CX/JL/BA/QF.

- Most other carriers than CX/JL/BA/QF, we do not fly them unless we use it as a connecting flight (not entirely true for AA ex-NRT flights), e.g. AY/MA/IB/MX/RJ/LA.

- SIN is not exactly a OW hub, don't count 3K unless we can start earning miles on 3K flights accross all OW FFPs.

- OW FFPs are overly protective, mileage earning across OW is POOR! For example, AA - at least H class for CX to earn miles; CX - IB/QF/BA 50% for ENTIRE EY ecept full Y and Premium Y to earn 100% miles; QF - similar to CX FFP, earns 50% on CX EY cabin except full Y.

- With limited choice of carriers and overly protective FFP, we are often leave with no choice but to fly the carrier that we bank our FFP miles in, this is especially true for Y class travellers, unless otherwise its cheaper or more convenient to fly other carrier. For example, being a CX SPH, I may not want to fly SIN-MEL on QF in EY because promotional O class does not earn me any miles, but it is much cheaper to fly SIN-HKG-MEL and it saves more time. Also, SIN-PVG, SIN-PEK, SIN-ICN and more...

- Some comments:

Fill the Asian market gap! I have always thought OW is superior than ST, but is it true now? I do not leave in Australia and *A really seems to attracting most Asian flyers away.

Loosen up the stringent FFP earning rules. Limited choice + stupid rules will only keep people flying OW for a limited time only, sooner travellers will start swithcing to other programmes like TG/SQ/OZ/UA (Yes *A) in Asia region where the same booking code earns the same amount of miles across almost ALL *A FFPs.

May be adding additional perks for elite flyers like priority bags for all SPH/EMD members (doesnt cost much to member carriers) and additional baggages (this cost slightly more) - NEED to convince people that OW carriers are united as one, especially when we are still unsure if JL is leaving us...

my 2 cents.. :D

Indeed they have the most protective programmes. I guess one of the most restrictive is BA's... they 25% rule is even more harsh than of SK's.

Lets Focus on Asia for abit (not including India)

Star Alliance: SQ, TG, NH, OZ, CA, FM*
SkyTeam: KE. CZ, VN*, GA*, JL*, MU*
OneWorld: CX, JL*

Remaining Carriers: MH, PR, AK

*VN will be joining in June 2010
*GA & JL joining in 2011
*JL to exit OW alliance
*FM merging with MU, speculated to join SkyTeam

Looks like OW will be left with a big gap in Asia, when ST grows

I thought that this article makes interesting reading - again it shows up the growing importance of Asia for air travel and makes OWs continued ambivalence toward the continent all the more puzzling . *A and Skyteam have been paying attention to the future and building their respective presences in Asia while OW still seems to be stuck .

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...rticle1452495/

Demand for flights within Asia has outstripped the North American air sector for the first time, led by growth in China, and signs point to further expansion of the Asian aviation market.

There were 647 million air travellers in the intra-Asia market last year, surpassing the 638 million passengers within North America, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Monday.