I'll bet a case of beer; within 18 months VS/Virgin Australia (NOT Virgin America) will either be in SkyTeam *OR* will be on their own new mini-Alliance where VS/VAustralia and SQ are further entrenched together and SQ isn't a part of a major alliance

SQ really doesn't see the benefit of Star at all - I don't see the benefit as a Star Gold in flying SQ at all other than getting EQM's

Many member airlines are a little stingy with elite EQM bonuses (OZ, SA, TG, TK). But at least you can book an award flight in J or F.

since we are dealing with another rehash of unsubstantiated claims, may be the case to modify title thread informing this is nothing more than a rumour, rather than a definite possibility?

Agreed. The title of this post makes it seem like a done deal.

I'll be really surprised and disappointed if this does happen as it doesn't seem to make sense.

Seems to me like this would be bad for OW, bad for many *A carriers in Asia, and bad for most flyers.

I say bad for most flyer even as someone who prefers *A because Cathay is a critical part of what makes OW still worthwhile. I'd consider Cathay leaving OW a major devaluation of my AA miles.

Bad for OW? Yes. Bad for many *A carrier in Asia? Probably not (at least not any worse than their current state when SQ is swapped out). Bad for most flyers? Did you mean "OW" flyers? I don't see how it's bad for non-OW flyers unless you imply the departure of CX from OW would result in the collapse of the alliance & this may potentially affect non-OW flyers.

LAX

Yeah, but you could say the same for SilkAir and SQ -- they code-share on most (maybe all) MI flights -- and AnadoluJet jet and TK, but those regional partners are not members of Star Alliance.

In fact, technically, KA is not a member of oneworld, either; I believe that you can get miles on oneworld programs if the flight has a CX number, but Star doesn't have the same rules.

KA is a member of oneworld, however they are only an affiliate member, not a full member. Given this, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that if Cathay were to join Star, Dragonair would come with it as an affiliate member.

Actually Star does not have the concept of affilate members. All members will be full members. Think about Blue1. They were a full member until SK folded them into their own operations and only the SK code is used now.

Wow...the only angle I see it happening is CX's relationthip with CA. In fact, it makes sense if you look at this way.

Maybe there is a 4th in the work? SQ + EK + VS + ...?

would love to see CX in *A - also believe that SQ is not really adding any value to *A as they are giving absolut minimum service to any other *A elite members :td:. SQ is more in the league of EK who think going alone will do. Time will tell which side is correct

Star does have affiliate members, just not quite in the same sense as oneworld. It's along the lines of what United Express is to United, all the Avianca branches to Avianca and, like you said, Blue1 to SAS. Thinking about it again though, I suppose I could see Dragonair joining as a full member (assuming Cathay were to switch in the first place).

UA putting me waitlist on CX flight instead of *A flight !
 

UA is going to cancel the NRT-HKG-NRT routes in October. I have an award ticket issued by UA with UA metal flying NRT-HKG-NRT in January next year. Of course the UA segments are dropped. To my surprise, UA is now putting me on waitlist on CX (L class) instead of trying to get me on *A flights, like NH. Is it a sign that CX is getting one step closer to *A?

Not really. United Express flights are treated the same as United main-line in all respects in Star Alliance. blue1 doesn't exist anymore; they, along with Croatia and Adria, used to be defined as affiliate members, but that distinction went away.

Not sure what it means to be put on a "waitlist" in this sense - you're not actually confirmed on CX?

I had the exact same issue for my in-laws in Jan, but on a paid ticket, and they were able to get us on NH w/o any issue (probably helped they're both 1KMMs).

CX is a nice option though!

Apologies for the thread title. I truly thought I put a question mark.