US joins ONEWORLD March 31st 2014
 

Officially announced today on the "NewAmerican" web page:

"On March 31, 2014, US Airways will join the oneworld® alliance...".

US will continue to operate separately through most of 2014 and FF programs won't be merged until late 2014 or possibly with the 2015 benefit year. However, some reciprocal benefits will start January 7th (lounge access, some elite benefits when flying on the other airline, posting miles to either program when flying US or AA).

More on the Oneworld site -

US joins ONEWORLD March 31st 2014
 

So does this mean my AA plat status will get me benefits on just US, or all star alliance?

Your AA status should get you benefits on US starting January 7th but AA has no agreements with other *A carriers at this time. The only way you would be able to do that if AA and US start doing status matches instead of just recognizing their FFs. If that were the case, you'd be matched to Gold Preferred on US and until they exit *A, you may receive *Gold benefits on any *A carrier you fly. This is basically what Southwest and AirTran are doing with their elites to recognize the status on both airlines but they are not members of an alliance. I don't think US and AA will go down that road but it's my understanding that they will announce on January 7th the first benefits of the merger. You may have to wait until then to find out.

Very doubtful The New AA will follow the CO/UA approach of offering status matches and creating dual accounts, at least not before the start of the new benefit year on March 1st. And given US will be in STAR for just three more months I doubt they'll do status matches to AA elites for just that period so you'd have STAR benefits. According to the OW release US's new elite cards will have the OW logo/status reflected and the STAR one removed.

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/about...newslink_21222

I am only interested in the ability to book award ticket on *A using DM.
I take that it is safe (most likely) to use DM to book the award seat on *A up to March 31, 2014, correct?

After March 31, 2014, it's exclusively all Oneworld?

The addition of TAM and US airways is a very good news, from that day oneworld will be stronger.

I'd be curious to know what exactly TAM and US Airways are addicted to...

Oops... :D typo mistake.

TAM would make 1W too strong in South America. 1W has recently made some impressive strides while Star has stayed stagnant.

They are addicted to the alliance their merged partners belong to...

Only has UA, LH and SQ to blame for the stagnation.

Completely agree. Star in my opinion is too "conservative".