I completely disagree.

I have flown 16 segments this year on DElta as a Silver, more than half of them on NW.

Some of the few benefits of Silver are:

• About 80% of my travel has been upgraded to First Class this year.
• Saved $40 in bag fees every trip
• Silvers have preferred seating on NW (and Delta), which on NW includes Bulkheads AND exit rows.
• Priority Boarding is nothing to sneeze at -- ensures that I have enough luggage space every time
• a smile: maybe because I'm young, but I always get very friendly service
• 25% bonus miles

I do wish DL would offer Silvers free standby and security lane access. But with my 80% upgrade rate to First class (which gets me the security lanes), and never really needing to standby, its not such a big deal