...``Next Thursday the Oneworld partners will meet in Santiago to see how the alliance moves on from here,'' said Iberia's director of communication Luis Diaz Guell.

Iberia's Chairman Xavier de Irala said recently that Iberia had other options to staying in Oneworld, which also includes Finnair , Qantas, Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific and LanChile , if the pact did not work out.

``Until now we have believed in Oneworld...and from now we have to see how far it serves Iberia's interests and how far Iberia serves the interests of Oneworld,'' Iberia's Financial Director Enrique Dupuy told journalists.

``Iberia has to be part of one of the major alliances,'' he added.

Analysts say the advantages of Oneworld may decline now that its biggest members cannot coordinate their transatlantic business...

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/020213/l13525826_1.html

IB should consider itself lucky being able to piggy-back off of the superior reputations of the other 1world partners.

Let 'em go and rot
Where are they going to go...Star? yea, like they need another partner and who would pick IB over Luftansa?
Oh, and I'm sure they'll do well against AF as the Skyteam alternative.
Would TAP or LOT be a good addition to OW if IB left? Any one care to comment?

Oneworld has some gaping holes in its coverage -- Canada, the whole of Africa, China (except Hong Kong), India. I would say that any new partner would be welcome, and any defection would be a disaster.

If the Oneworld alliance really does break apart, I guess my AAdvantage miles on AA will become worthless as I never really fly AA and only use the AAdvantage account to accure miles on CX or upgrade J->F on CX.

Will there be new "round the world" type of fares for the "former Oneworld" airlines if "oneworld" really dies? (ie. CX/AA, CX/BA, CX/AA/BA etc.)

It would really suck if I wouldn't be able to get a decent RTW ticket which includes CX and maybe BA and AA (the CX/UA, the only reasonable alternative now costs as much as an Oneworld Explorer after a recent fare increase and has very restrictive routings).

In Iberia's defence: I found their lounge in VLC to be top-notch, and their short-haul service in coach was better than expected. They gave me good treatment throughout as an AA EXP, including preferred seating, and left me pleased enough.

Would I fly them transatlantic? No way! But do they expand my connection options in Europe. For sure. I'd be happy to keep them on that basis alone -- more options, and no obvious cost to pax or to the alliance associated with their continued membership. (And even their joining in the first place -- marginal costs are, what, new signs, new brochures, some computer system integration, nothing that huge???)

(It's also handy to have access to that many more lounges. Like in EZE where the AAdmiral's Club isn't always open when you want it; I found the IB lounge handy once for that reason.)

Remember that so far, nothing has happened!

Are they perhaps just looking to strike a "better deal"?

Africa a hole in OW coverage? Quite the opposite. Apart from the Air France coverage of their former colonies, I think OW have it down in Africa. BA have excellent network coverage and a fair number of franchisees. I don't think anyone can match their coverage in Africa. Short of adding South African Airlines to the alliance, it's hard to see how they could better their network in Africa.

How is Turkish Airline's network in Africa? Wonder how they might add to the OW network?

Or Emirates

Does anyone know why JAL or Asiana won't join any alliance?

Ditto for Malaysia.

I want TAM in OW, so I don't need to buy Brazilian domestic flights to fill the gaps in my OWE...

Daniellam, although it's probably unlikely the OW will disappear (fingers crossed) you can reasonably expect off-alliance pairings of the sort you mentioned, although in each case you have much more limited routing possibilities than OW offers.

There used to be a nice SQ-BA pairing until SQ joined *, and if BA manages to stay in business they no doubt would find themselves in such pairings again. Unlike many other candidates, they really have a lot to offer - extensive European coverage and generally a decent quality product, besides their long-haul network.

Iberia can go if they want to. I would happily see them replaced with Swiss (fka Swissair/Crossair). I would also love for JAL to join.

As for francophile's question re Malaysia, I believe MAS has strong ties with NW and may consider joining "Wings" if it ever gets off the ground.

Some speculation in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum83/HTML/000836.html .