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American, British Airways, and Iberia said they signed an agreement for flights between the United States and Europe and would apply for antitrust approval from US regulators. American and BA have been looking at ways to join their global operations for about a dozen years.

If the group gets antitrust approval, it would serve 443 destinations in 106 countries with nearly 6,300 daily departures, but with about 18 percent of the seats between Europe and the United States, it would still lag Delta/Northwest/Air France, which has 25 percent.

Additionally, Delta and Northwest have announced plans to merge, creating the biggest airline in the United States, ahead of American.

What's in it for the airlines? They expect to save money by limiting competition and sharing resources and costs. With the recent enactment of the Open Skies treaty, which opens competition for airlines between the United States and Europe, it's becoming clearer that in the future there will need to be more global alliances if not mega-global carriers. In fact, part two of the Open Skies talks will deal directly with the issue of opening up foreign ownership of airlines.

This will make it easier to book flights from United States to Mexico, Canada, the European Union, and Norway, with still reaping those ever-less-valuable frequent-flier miles.

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