I myself am *alliance but from what I see there are so many restrictions to mileage accrual on OneWorld member airlines. What really is the advantage? Scheduling for reward tickets seems good but for an American resident what are the advantages?

As per other programs, depends on the individual airline policies.

Advantags of oneworld
- only alliance that covers Australia
- general level of high quality airlines and lounges
- includes JAL!

when you say covers australia what do you mean? because there are some flights on *alliance within Austrialia now but since Quantas is OneWorld it is true we do lose out on the most intraaustrailian flights.

Star flies to 20 destinations from 7 Australian cities.
Sky flies to 4 destinations from 3 Australian cities (becomes 8 destinations and 4 cities once VN and GA join).
Neither has any domestic Australian routes.

Oneworld meanwhile has 52 domestic Australian destinations and flies to 21 international destinations from 5 Australian cities (would be 25 from 7 if QF owned JQ were part of OW).

OW has a lock on parts of South America as well. LAN has one of the most consistent hard products in the industry. ime, LAN's longhaul business product is the equal or better of any airline flying to that part of the world.

BA permits me to fly in LAN's excellent J cabin rt from NY to SCL or IPC or EZE (with enroute stopovers if I wish) for 80k BA miles plus minimal taxes. Since I value LAN's J hard product higher than BA's own, I consider this specific alliance a very serious plus in the OW program.

You're a *A flyer out of NYC, which means that until recently you were flying US a lot, right? Apparently you value US's hard and soft products more than the average bear, and haven't experienced what AA has to offer, which those who follow this board will attest to being leagues and bounds better. United's product comes closer to AA's but their paltry schedule in NYC means you likely found little value with them.

Now, with the addition of CO things seem to have gotten better for the NYC-based *A flyer. But did you really brave years of *A before CO arrived and are still asking this question?

In the end, to each his/her own, I guess.

Peace.

For the average frequent flyer, there are far more benefits than SkyTeam or *A (esp. with the worthless *S). For airlines, less intra-alliance competition = more profit per alliance member (less restrictions imposed), unlike what *A has turned into.

Oneworld has three tiers FFP system (Emerald/Sapphire/Ruby), but *A has two tiers(Gold/Silver).
It makes some differences.

That's one of the more important distinctions as Wasabi Tofu pointed out....when you're Emerald in OW you get access to First lounges in any place they exist no matter the ticket or fare class. It really does make a difference because anyone is Gold in *A, not difficult to attain at all, but Emerald is really beyond the reach of a casual traveler and when your flight gets re-routed the partner airlines really take care of Emeralds. Also, I've found Cathay to give excellent treatment to Emerald's - no matter the class of service. As well, I feel there are a lot more fare rules on *A when you take partner airlines in regards to mileage accrual. OW I find is a lot easier, you basically garner EQM if you're an elite save for some specific instances.

As an Emerald, I just finished my first LONE3 trip of this year. While I lament not getting L mileage credit on Cathay, they went out of their way to help secure my seat in a exit row AND blocked the middle seat on a quite full flight.

A pleasant surprise! ^

I was a skyteam person myself with CO that avoided delta like the plague. I flew only when needed on DL or AA and will continue to avoid both as much as possible. I am a CO guy in the US and for many international destinations. I too avoid US but will use United. I don't like US's routes or planes.

It's the mileage thing that urks me the most. Not being able to amass miles on certain airlines at all or only if you're in the highest 3 class cost codes.

Is this really so different to *A? AA will give you 100% miles on almost anything. Yes there are exceptions but they also exist in *A (for example I avoid one of my favourite airlines, NZ, like the plague Trans Tasman as you don't get any miles. This compared to QF/LA which give me full miles and the fantastic SYD F Lounge. )

I have heard way too many stories from OneWorld members who had mileage issues. I think the NZ mileage issue is no longer true. I am planning a RTW and am getting my 150% eqm and 100%-150% rdm.

Just did SYD/AKL with NZ on the cheapest fare and I can tell you that you won't earn miles even with their own program. In contrast while you may not be able to earn AA miles with the cheapest trans-Tasman QF fare you can at least credit it to QF for points.