Aer Lingus has made much of its membership of the OneWorld alliance, yet an advertisement in last week's Economist suggests the national carrier remains in the economy class.

"The OneWorld alliance now includes no fewer than seven leading international carriers," read the advert. OneWorld, however, has nine partners.

American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia and Qantas were cited. Aer Lingus and LanChile were ignored.

Could it be true that the big players regard their small-town partners such as Aer Lingus and its Chilean counterpart as neither "leading" nor "international"?