Didn't SN recently say that they were planning on joining an alliance in 2008?

They would add many African destinations to the OneWorld map (though woefully little intra-African service).

I'm not very savvy about these things, but would it be totally daft of me to suggest Alaska Airlines? AS already has codeshares and some reciprocal FF benefits with many OW carriers including AA so they shouldn't be too concerned.

Not daft and frequently speculated. However at the moment AS has as many Skyteam partners as Oneworld, and in fact gives EQM for flights on NW, DL, AF and KL (vs. EQM on AA and LA in Oneworld.)

Of course AS in the OW fold would be of great benefit to RTWers, but that's a bit of a niche market, don't you think? Meanwhile it's a great "second FF plan" for US residents, as it offers miles on BA between the US and UK, umpteen earn/burn options (AA, BA, LA, QF, DL, CO, AF, KL, NW, CX...) and decent hard and soft products of its own.

But wouldn't we all love to have decent north-south connections on the US/Canada West Coast? Ahh, a dream. I should wake up now.

Quite my thoughts. OW will hopefully remain a quality focused alliance (even if AA could be replaced by Jet Blue ) and not take up emerging markets members at any cost.

Maybe SN would best fulfill current needs (African connections & regional French airports) until additional partners in China and India can be scrutinized more closely.

Canada is a OW desert - OK Canada is pretty sparse altogether but it would be great to have WJ in the OW fold. They would provide far more opportunities than AS.

SN has a good European network too, and properly employed can add more substance to OW, in fact I guess everyone here would like OW to expand and extend EU coverage before thinking about getting China and India airlines on board, otherwise we'll have to cope with the two big continental monopolists and their predatory attitudes (i hope that the today visit of EU Antitrust at Frankfurt is a premise for a thorough investigation and correction of an unsustainable situation):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7290061.stm

I personally think that both RJ and MA is a waste of time for Oneworld.

I'll let you know in a month or so.....
Mrs WF and I will be flying BKK-BUD-IST-BUD-CDG on a OW award..... using...... MA

20-25 years ago I would probably agree with the comment regarding RJ. And I did fly with them. several times. Now I'm considering AMM-ORD as a result of the relative confusion in LHR and some reasonable reviews. Assuming I can find the $$ for another DONEx.

In many respects QF is a waste of time. Too much demand on the transPacific routes for award availability or decent premium cabin fares. And looking at SYD-LHR 4-5-6 months out all D class availability is restricted to one flight per day. (no it wasn't an exhaustive search)

But I figure the whole (ie OneWorld) is worth more than the individual sum of the parts.....

YMMV

Mine does as I wander

Fred

Why? There are some extra destinations opened up with both these airlines.

Personally I really really hope we get SN.

Jet would be my second choice.

As for MA or RJ being a waste of time, what is that supposed to mean? They don't fly where you want to go? Personally I think Star is a far more valuable alliance because of the number of airlines they now include. I really hope Oneworld grows. For the world traveller, the more options the better.

Plus my next DONE4 would have been impossible without them. Not because of the new destinations, but because the traditional carriers were all C0, D0, J0 ....

Bagdad?

By then there may not be anyone left or none may be interested.

No one is forcing you to fly there. There were plenty of other destinations added to the one world network when RJ and MA joined.