I have to say, I'm quite ticked about the lack of accessible international upgrades. I *AM* a business traveler. That does not mean my employer is OK with me spending $1-2K more than I have to on a ticket just so I can buy YMB.

I'll be Diamond in 2010 with little to show for it. Flying coach on my transpacs. Even the miles I earn doing it are worth a lot less than they were worth before. (I used to be able to fly my family of 4 anywhere in the US/Canada for 100k miles, now it's almost double that.)

Nice how Delta feels they can reduce the value of the miles that I earned. I wish I had the luxury of telling them "oh.. that award ticket you wanted 25k miles for? I'll now be giving you 12k miles for it."

I earned my status and my miles by flying Delta/NW exclusively. Even when other, cheaper options were available. I stopped using travelocity altogether, booking everything on nwa.com, with my WP Visa (and now SM Amex). LOYALTY PROGRAM.. LOYALTY. It's supposed to encourage me to use them exclusively. Who is the imbecile who decided it would be a good idea to start treating their most loyal customers like freeloaders?