A truism in commerce: Business can be bought, but loyalty must be earned.

Since 1984, I have been loyal to NW. They earned it. Reasons are many; most have already been stated. Above all, the loyalty was earned by doing the 'little things' that are over and above SOP. One never forgets.

OTOH, one also never forgets the little things that could/should have been done, in order to earn loyalty, that were not done. This is the scenario at DL today, and why they have not earned my loyalty. I could elaborate on what those things are, but everyone in the industry and all the FTers out there know what I mean.

Finally, I know I was profitable for NW. I cannot begin to count the number of full Y fares and others (e.g. full biz-class fares for TATL or TPAC) over the years. I bought way too many $900-$1,200 Y fares STL-MSP, for example. But I did so because I knew NW would deliver. This is loyalty earned with the reward of high margin business.

No more. DL has not earned any loyalty and in fact have burned away what loyalty there was with NW. So, DL is just another carrier now, and that reality has reduced them to near-nil spend. This is because DL has to compete now for my domestic $ with WN, and there is no comparison in terms of earning loyalty.

WN earns it, DL burns it.

It's just a shame. 25 years of earned loyalty and high-margin business on the redtail. The king is dead, long live the king.