I imagine many of us are going to try to use miles for the long fligts. Just wanted to provide some information.

South African Airlines (SAA) is joining Star Alliance (with United and USAir and others) probably by next year. Along with that, it is probable that the partnership agreement between Delta and SAA will end. The five year agreement is up in 2005 and it appears that it may not be renewed. On the other hand, Continental, Northwest, and KLM will be joining Skyteam (Delta, Air France, etc).

So, United and USAir miles will be good for SAA along with the other current choices.

For those of us with Delta, Continental, and Northwest miles, we will have lots of choices. We can use AF through Paris, KLM through Amsterdam, or Virgin Atlantic (don't know if this will work for Continental or Northwest) through London. If SAA remains a partner, we can combine with Delta flights. Therefore, we can connect in Paris, Frankfurt, London, or Sao Paolo (I believe) or other places you can get to with just Delta to SAA flights.

I don't the first thing about OneWorld (American).

Any one have additional insight?