Originally Posted by monkeshine

I understand that things are different. The issue is of course that the combination of airlines means twice as many status fliers with maybe 2/3 as many planes/routes. Of course that means less upgrades. Add into the mix the other programs (Amex and USBank miles) and the cost of Awards is up. I have found a lot of 25k awards but yes I understand many are finding the 40k. Inflation of miles means more people claiming seats. Perhaps with the $150 cancel fee (instead of the $100 booking fee) people will be less inclined to hold awards they aren't absolutely sure they will take, and that will free up more 25k awards.

Originally Posted by monkeshine

But let's face it, NW was able to give out plenty of upgrades and cheap awards because they didn't fill up their planes. They didn't fill up their planes and were losing money. They had to merge. So one way or another, NW folks were going to lose something. How many more years would NW been able to hang on without the merger? DL too for that matter? We were all going to lose either our airline or many of the perks in order to save the airlines anyway. With the merger, it's a whole new era for status fliers that is for sure.