As a matter of survival, airlines within the current environment are constantly reviewing and altering their strategies. An important component of any airlines’ strategy to remain viable and maintain competitive advantage in today's setting is to pool resources and share risk, known as an alliance. A broad definition of an alliance that occurs in the aviation industry is the “collaboration between two or more firms that retain their autonomy during the course of their relationship” (Kleymann & Seristö, 2004). To that end, there are certain variations of airline alliance in vogue today, in particular the Global Airline Alliance. Starting with a synopsis and identification of these alliance groups, the discussion will move to a selection and analysis of benefits and shortcomings that can be associated with global alliances from a business and consumer perspective. From here, an appreciation will be gained of the major airline alliances and typical rationale of alliance strategies.