Considering that I live in Minneapolis, have taken plenty of Northwest flights, have a lot of friends that are PMNW FFers and have a lot of friends that are PMNW employees, I really appreciate you putting words in my mouth.

Yes, I think PMDL did a lot of things better than PMNW. That's why I flew them. Yes, I think PMNW did a lot of things better than Delta. NW IT was better. The ability to reserve Row 5 on the narrowbodies is something I miss. The snacks in the WorldClubs were better.

However, I try to look at it from Delta's perspective as well. I won't post reasons why on FlyerTalk, but many FTers know 100% why I look at it from their perspective as well - and that's about cost. There has to be an equilibrium somewhere - a lot of the PMNW policies could have stayed post-merger; however it would cost Delta a ton of money as a company and cause them to bleed financially. From there, there are two paths that could be taken - raise fares (and hope others match in their entirety; this is a bit unlikely) or lower expenses by shedding items that were costing too much money for the value they delivered. That's the path Delta went down. United/Continental are likely going to be going down that same path. Hell, AirTran/Southwest will likely too! Rapid Rewards is going to have a major revamp coming up - one that a lot of people will not like. Why? Costs.

At the end of the day, I want the airline to be successful in both service and profit. You can have an amazing experience, but if you give away too much of the house doing so, then eventually there won't be a house left.

As I've noted, I've had bad luck with both PMNW and PMDL agents this past week, including an egregious error made by a PMDL agent that affected me and vuelos. I've had great agents at Chisholm before, but given that of late I've been getting much better service from SLC and less-so from Chisholm, it's affecting my opinion.