There's probably few who are as critical as I am of this trend. That being said, intl scope may be going as well as it can.

Delta cannot defeat the ME3 in a head to head match and more countries than ever are taking advantage of our IE bank and making large WB purchases whether they have the demand and pricing power or not.

The alliances that are formed give Delta significant bargaining power with the host governments through the management teams of the various airlines. If airlines are hiring and making more money with Delta then everyone wins.

What continues to be the threat is when an alliance partner leaves and takes those routes to a competitor, opening a large hole in our route structure (i.e. Alaska).

That being said there is a balance between keeping host countries happy with the alliance and puting too much faith in them.