A reasonable price and easiness to redeem miles on international coach tickets is the most important decision-influencing factor for me to choose my airline. Ever since my first flight with NW, I have never been upset about my choice until the day when www.nwa.com disappears.

I am in the middle of switching to CO at this moment. This year I have two more paid trips with DL and all the remaining paid flights will be on CO.

It is not an easy decison for me to make, as I have a large balance of SM with DL and that I know it would be impossible to redeem them at a reasonable price once I lose Platinum status after February 2012. However, recent experience redeeming miles (including the airline's own award availability as well as parnters', website function, agents' knowledge and willingness to help) with CO and DL is such a striking difference that triggers my final decision -- I am waving my hands to DL (or it should really be ex-NW) and heading back to the CO camp. I have always been longing for those old moments in DTW, MSP, IAH and EWR when CO and NW were the best partners. Now the time is coming again.

What I might miss on DL -- easy upgrade even on transcontinental flights like JFK-SEA, SFO-JFK. However, since I do not pay for those first class or business class tickets, I will not feel disappointed if I do not get upgraded. I view it as the airline's courtesy to the elite members.

Just my two cents.