Alliances
 

I don't know much about alliances but occasionally see a news report saying an airline has joined an alliance and think that i wouldn't want to fly with that particular airline. The question is; If i book a trip with a particular airline for multi stops will it be clear to me, on my ticket, if i am not travelling on a particular leg with the airline i think i have booked with because some other alliance partner is substituted??

Not at all. I regularly travel Finnair from London to Helsinki, part of OneWorld and sold also by British Airways under a BA flight number (the reverse happens on the BA flights on the route which also have Finnair numbers).

I have noticed several times British passengers (generally less-travelled ones) who get BA tickets, check in at the BA counters at Heathrow T1, look out on all the BA aircraft as they walk down the pier, board the aircraft through a jetway so don't see the aircraft livery, and in truth have no idea they are not on a BA plane, and make comments about "this crew must live in Helsinki, not London", or their "new uniform".

The particular issue you write about is Code Sharing rather than Alliances, not quite the same thing but the two go hand in hand. It's always interesting to compare fare quotes from both parties on a codeshared flight, they rarely are the same, for the same flight. Sometimes one is more expensive, sometimes the other.

It's my understanding that you must be advised at the time of booking as to which airline is scheduled to operate your flight.