Originally Posted by jbcarioca

This one is "a bridge too far". Not a chance. NW had a better reputation but nobody ever would have called it good by Asian terms. Just as PanAm and TWA were better then international US competitors in many respects so was NW. None of them were good enough to meet their true competition. No US carrier, IMO, has ever really been a "Premium" carrier in the context of CX, SQ, EK and those are not 'Premium" on all their routes. DXB-KHI anybody? DL is doing pretty well in comparison with US competitors, except for all the IT issues and some serious fleet deficiencies. They are trying, and trying hard. That does not keep them from overreaching from time to time.