My point is that this irks me. It strikes me that that in the hunt for bigger and better alliances, any airline will be let in. It's not the other international airlines flying into any of the offending countries; it's letting a nationalized carrier (an arm of the government and it's polices) into a global alliance. It's confirmation that what they do is OK with us. Like I said earlier in this thread- think South African Airways in the years of Apartheid. Lots of other airlines flew into South Africa and they abided by whatever rules were in place at the time, but they never legitimized the government’s policies by offering an invitation to SAA to join them in anything.

I am trying my best not to let this become overly religious or political, that’s why I highlighted the fact that all women (regardless of age, race, religion, or political affiliation) are denied the freedom to drive. Isn’t there something fundamentally (no pun intended) wrong with denying all the women in any country the freedom to drive? Unfortunately, in this case, that would only be scratching the surface.

This would not bother me if mainline Delta flew in there. Presently, I know that Air France/KLM has a notable presence in Saudi Arabia and I’m fine with that.

Also, this is not a DL/SkyTeam bashing. I brought this up because it surprised me and I wanted to see what other opinions were out there.


To answer your question about international visa requirements,not that it matters at all, but I have more experience flying for airlines out of the US than I do flying in the US.