Thanks FlyingDelta. I had AC all figured out, and then UA for a while too, but DL is new to me. I'm a free agent these days and don't worry a bit about status or upgrades and whatnot. The main downside I'm seeing is that for every new airline I fly there's a whole new set of protocols to figure out if things go awry. Planning is good and I'll definitely do as you suggest and have alternatives worked out ahead of time just in case so I can make suggestions to an agent. Sometimes, of course, one just has to suck up stuff that happens when flying but I'd rather not get stuck in MOT overnight if my flight gets cancelled. We expect to get to MOT fairly early, likely before the earlier flight for MSP leaves, so we have some cushion there.

I'm quite excited about trying out the BE product and comparing that to UA and AC.