Thank you all for your comments.

I am based in DTW, but if the flight is the same or cheaper out of YYZ, I can take advantage of KE. I've done so several times when I flew to ICN, but I don't think they are price-competitive with DL flying to PVG...so I can't book them with my company travel agent. I've recently stayed away from them because of their drop to "Category 4 partner" with Delta... But I like AS miles. (I churn their credit card, and can redeem on CX), so I will check prices again... But as several of you already mentioned, I can't fly DL and credit to KE. I get very little... So I would have to fly KE ticket+metal and credit AS for any value.

I may need to revisit KLM's flying blue program. I find that I fly KLM/AF more and more due to pretty good trans-Atlantic flight sales... Any good primer for that program?

My real problem is that I currently manage active accounts with DL/UA/AA/AS/BA, along with 4 hotel programs...along with work, home, and travel, I barely have time to read FT once a week! ;-)

Soooo... back to my original question: nobody tried calling Delta to tell them to hold their status?