Yes, its the tone of the article which is most certainly negative toward Delta and nostalgic for Northwest. What bothered me most was the the title and lead in as it set the tone for the direction this was heading toward. Yes, I feel sorry for those who enjoyed flying an airline unable to fill the plane or musicians whose instruments are problematic to transport (although the writer doesn't really tell you what exactly the problem is. I have issue with noting an improvement in a statistic for 2010 but then applying a two-year average to use as a comparison. And frankly, a difference in delayed flights as narrow as 1.5 flights/100 between a good grade and a bad grade isn't really worthy of splitting hairs over. I also would have been interested to hear from at least one former NW employee that wasn't negative on DL - sadly none were quoted.

The fact is that DL is still around and at least to me appear healthier than not that long ago - which might mean they will be around for a while.