I wouldn't be surprised if Air Tahiti Nui eventually joins ST... I believe they have some ties with AF, don't they. They will have nonstop service from JFK to Tahiti. From there, onward service to Sydney and Auckland. ST could go a long way in solving their Australia/NZ void with the addition of TN.

Sigh! If we could only get MH into Skyteam. I've heard many great things about them and its recent inclusion into the 5*'s category by Skytrax seems to validate their reputation. Check out this link at www.airlinequality.com :

http://www.airlinequality.com/news/090605-mas.htm

I love some of the comments that come up whenever this subject is discussed, 'I never heard of them", "I wish there was a partner that flew to Australia or New Zealand....its a really big whole for them".

Why is that? Because you wish to onc every ten years redeem an award ticket there? Australia has one major transcontinental airline, Qantas, they are spoken for (and until recently BA had a major shareholding in them, so that was never going to happen), Air NZ is in the other alliance. guess what, that is it. Many Euro carriers dropped down under because they made no money there, hell, so did CO and NW (barring the Air Mike flight to Cairns). Forget it, its not happening, nor is it a smart move. You wanna burn miles to these places, you have a few options, MH, SQ, CO or KE. Not great options, but at least they are options.

As for the "I never heard of them".....so what? Who cares, you are obviously not the passenger they are looking for. Personally I rarely fly to Russia, for years people are *****ing about Aeroflot joining Skyteam. So what! I know a couple oil and banking guys who do fly to Russia quite often, and Skyteam membership would probably make them fly Aeroflot more and within the alliance more, that IS the point of the alliance, the point is not to make make some mostly US domestic flier happy that they can get a dream vacation once in their lives (the fantasy does of course help, but let's be real here).

People speak about VS, yeah, they are a good airline, they fly to very few places and if you want to talk about small carriers, Dl flies more people between the NY metropolitan area to Atlanta in a year than VS does throughout the entire world in a year. if I lived in London and had to only go to ten or so prime cities repeatedly in my life then VS would be my airline. As I don't, they are not. furthermore I would think that if they ever joined an alliance it would be * as SQ does have 49% of them.

Lastly, the carriers that are coming in, bar TAROM, are pretty good scrappy carriers that are well respected in their areas, people in these areas HAVE heard of them, and that is what is important.

I agree that this is welcome news, especially KQ and CM since they fly to places I might actually want to go. Several have mentioned the ability to burn miles, but it also increases the flexibility in earning miles. A flight on CM could previously earn OnePass miles (but not SkyMiles), and flights on KQ could earn WorldPerks miles (but not SkyMiles). Since I prefer to earn SkyMiles, I'd be less likely to consider these airlines for paid travel.

To go to a place like GYE not served by DL, and still earn SkyMiles, there were previously two options: CO (choice of one overnight flight or two) and AV (not sure BOG would be my favorite place to transit). I'd rather fly AA (widebody and better schedule) than end up with orphan OnePass miles, so Skyteam lost my business on that route. Now there is a third option, CM, and they actually appear to have decent prices and schedules, so I'll be likely to consider them in the future.

For SkyMiles earning and burning alike, the destination options have improved substantially compared to the original Skyteam route map. YMMV of course depending on destinations, but for the places I go (or am likely to want to go), these additions make a good alliance better.

I've flown several times ATL-PTY, it's OK service up front. IMHO, the best FC service to PTY is CM, followed by CO, then DL and AA (all 737s, although AA has changed to other airframes). If you need additional info on PTY, PM me.

RDM

Wow! I've never posted a thread that went this long... I feel so proud

More fuel for the fire:

http://www.airliners.net/discussions....main/2163187/

Potugalia to enter SkyTeam in late 2005

Not a lot of people would benefit from that, other than fantasy vacations, but for those of us that fly to Tahiti and Oceana even twice a year, it would be really nice. I fly Tahiti Nui now, as its really the only plane going there, and would love to add those miles to my DL account.

I mention this carrier because they also fly from Tahiti to Sydney and Auckland. Presumably, they would time these flights to connect with the LAX and NYC service. This would then immediately become the easiest way for SM members to get to Australia and NZ, wouldn't it?

In all honesty, how does SkyTeam keep coming up with these no-names??
I was making up names of lame-o airlines earlier in this thread and even I don�t have this much imagination.
Let�s now hear the defense for Potugalia Airlines as a welcome and respected member of SkyTeam.
I�m all ears....

To be honest, Delta was probably largely unknown outside the US before they took over PanAm's old routes. In some areas they are still largely unknown today! The powerhouse in SkyTeam is AF/KLM.

OK, we need to get to the bottom of this issue which has been cussed and discussed on this board many times.
It�s my very uninformed opinion that DL rules the roost at SkyTeam.
Yet I hear other statements that AF, KLM and others are the powers-that-be.
Am I that far wrong to say that DL towers over the other SkyTeam partners in nearly every measurable aspect of the airline business??
I honestly don�t know but I can�t believe that any of the other ST partners have any case for claiming supremacy.

For a start, the fact that AF is certain of being in existence next year gives it a big advantage.

The way I see it the only way they will fall is if AF and KLM are invaded by Lufthansa.

Of course, even in that case, DL, CO, and NW will launch a massive counter-attack, probably starting someplace in Normandy, and eventually free the two airlines.

KLM will be very grateful for this but AF will never forgive it.

Isn�t AF propped up to a large degree by the French government?
And this comment is not meant to start a discussion on the US bail-out of DL and the other majors.
As a matter of policy, haven�t many of the European national carriers traditionally been subsidized by their respective governments?
My original point wasn�t who has the most cash in 2005 but what SkyTeam members can make claim to being the true leaders of the alliance.

Delta didn't rule the roost before CO and NW joined and they haven't done so since. SkyTeam could lose DL tomorrow and it would move on and survive. After all, it has two other US carriers as members both of which are probably in better shape than DL. The same can't be said of losing AF/KLM. I'm not saying that this is a good thing! AF/KLM's position of strength is not leading to a true integrated alliance since AF apparently think that there is the AF way or no way!

While Virgin is is name in the USA&GB, it flys nowhere DL, KLM, or NWA does not go and it is more expensive. The service on Virgin is good but the other services (lugguage, gate management, ticketing) is awful. At least with the other new additions you can get some place worthwhile. I would be very disappointed if Skyteam got Virgin.