I remember 5 years ago it seemed like SkyTeam was the bigger alliance, though I may have been a bit biased working for Northwest. Star Alliance was just kinda "meh." SkyTeam had NW, DL, and CO, while Star had UA and US. Then NW and DL merged, dropping it to 2 and 2. Then CO switched to Star Alliance to partner (not yet merge at this point) with UA. 1 and 3. Then UA and CO merged. 1 and 2. Now with the AA merger, everyone is expecting the merged airline to move to OneWorld. Now down to 1 and 1. Man, this industry is crazy! 6 of the major airlines (NW, DL, CO, UA, US, AA) each have a merger with another, going down to 3 airlines total!