Upgrades on the domestic US legs would be nice. Lounge access for the long haul econo legs would be almost as good. My luck has been fair to middling on Medallion upgrades the last few years but most of my mileage has been in coach on NW/KL.

I am 3 of 3 for DL CONUS upgrades this year. The only time I rode coach on DL was ATL-MCO on an otherwise purchased DL/AZ biz class open jaw itin because the FC cabin (a flight code continuation of an SNN-ATL flight) was full before I bought my ticket.

With the NW/DL merger and no clue as to where KL fits in this puzzle, I thought it a good time to rethink my whole flight strategy.

I am resigned to accepting award flights may rapidly slip beyond the grasp of all but those rugged Plats and 1Ks who would hurl themselves into a running jet turbine rather than board yet another flight for a holiday.