This might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

I fly to HKG (and HND) every other month and sometimes i have more than 8 flights in a month to those cities depending on business need and requirements.

being LAX based i am used to connecting through narita through old school 283 and whatever the onward connecting flight number is on the a330-300. When they started the DTW - HKG flight with the 777L back in 2010 ive flown that several times where i connect from the west coast. No biggie for me as it gets me in the same day. Same when the flight went to the a330-200 from SEA. Loved that flight and fantastic wifi on that long segment. timed right. Yea theres CX non stops but serves me not much good being in the states and being marco polo whatever their top tier is.

right now i have 4 flights i need to book to HKG towards the end of the year, and the options delta / skyteam is downright silly.

1) i could go LAX-TPE-HKG on CI but TPE has no skyclub and i cant use any upgrades if i wanted to. Ive taken this flight a few times though and its one of the best wifis in the sky with their 773. Pretty much zero chance for an opup and low priority compared to CI elites.
2) i could go LAX-ICN-HKG but again no skyclub but with a skyteam lounge that i get into with my elite status. Zero chance for an op up and low priority below KE elites.

Someone remind me again why i pay 450 a year for a Delta Reserve card when earning MQM’s will be very confusing, delayed/unreliable?

Thank you Ed Bastian for continuing to dilute this once great merged airline that served my needs perfectly well even without a nonstop flight.