Most of the airlines around the world have aligned themselves with one of the 3 major global Alliances, oneworld, Star Alliance and Skyteam. Being a member of one of these Alliance provides benefits to the Airlines themselves but also to their customers.
Member airlines of an Alliance can benefit through collaboration and sharing of resources and ultimately cost reductions. One example is ground and passenger handling. Delta and Virgin are both members of Skyteam. Atlanta airport is the largest Delta hub where Virgin Atlantic also flies to. It would make sense for Virgin to share resources in Atlanta with Delta to keep operating costs to a minimum. Ground handling, passenger check-in, lounges and even catering suppliers. Whilst that is the theory sometimes member airlines don't always follow the playbook and may run and operate their own lounge or employ a different 3rd party passenger handler. The other big benefit is colocation of Alliance members in the same airport terminal which allows for seamless passenger handling and transfers.
Customers can also benefit from flying on the same Alliance airlines specially if they are transferring from one Alliance member to another member on a connecting itinerary and they operate from the same terminal. New York JFK operates 8 different terminals. Terminal 8 is operated by AA which also houses British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, QANTAS, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and Cathay Pacific, all members of the oneworld Alliance. Connecting between any oneworld member at JFK Terminal 8 should be a smooth and less stressful experience.
Most of the Alliance members also operate codeshares which in a separate article i have explained the benefits of. The ability to earn and burn miles/points on Alliance members is probably the most significant benefit for the frequent travelers.
The three Alliances, oneworld, Star and SkyTeam compete for superiority over the other 2. Star is the largest of the 3 Alliances with 26 members and serves the most global destinations. oneworld is the smallest in terms of member airlines and countries served. SkyTeam sits in the middle.
Not all the US major carriers are affiliated with one of the three alliances. Surprisingly Jetblue and Southwest are not members. Jetblue has chosen to remain outside of the Alliance structure and operate one to one individual partnerships. Flying on Qatar Airways a oneworld member, you can still earn Jetblue Trueblue miles, even though JetBlue is not a member of oneworld. Joining an Alliance can come with exacting qualifying criteria set by the members of the Alliance, these normally would include safety, security, IT, Social responsibility to name a few. A new member would have to under go a qualification audit and fix any areas falling short of qualification standards.
The membership process can take months and even years and can come at a cost. Southwest is the other large US carrier which sits outside the big 3 Alliances. If Southwest and JetBlue were to join an Alliance it would open up more global destinations to their customers, introduce interline seamless connectivity and generate more revenue from outside the US through partners.
Next time you are at any airport, look out for the Alliance branded aircraft that may be operating in your city.
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