Section 1 is where we build our language to fend of outside influences and prepare for the unknown like fragmentation. Our scope language prevents Air France/KLM and other code-share partners in the EU from doing what Aer Lingus did with United regardless of who made the open skies agreement or has X freedom rights. We hold the line with our contracts on limiting the impact of agreements than governments make without our input. Call your rep and ask him why Air France can't just pull an Aer Lingus on us? It's because of our scope language not becuse of the way the law is structured. Yes, the JV is separate from the open skies agreements between nations, but the open skies agreements are what lead us to the JV's in the first place. Why didn't Delta just move all it's planes to the EU in the bankruptcy and run them like Aer Lingus? The danger of unregulated open skies agreements is shown clearly with BA's OpenSkies airline and we use Section 1 to defend that kind of thing happening to us specifically. If you don't want to believe that Section 1 is helping keep you job from being taken by foreigners then that's fine but you need to take a closer look at the EU.