Well I thought I'd follow up with what I heard from both Delta and Continental, which, in my mind illustrates why Delta seems to be universally loathed. Basically Delta replied with an e-mail saying (a) yes in fact they had moved me from row 36 to row 31 (and of course offered me a seat in a row further up that didn't recline, which I'd declined); (b) that no, they did not offer "preferred seating" to SkyTeam Elite members, only to Medallion members; and (c) if I'd like to become a Medallion member, they offered a Medallion challenge if I'd send them a copy of my Continental OnePass Elite card.

Continental actually *called* me and apologized profusely for the mix up, and let me know that they'd talk to Delta, to see if there was a misunderstanding about the elite seating policy so they could make it clear to their elite members. I was specifically told that CO elites should not have to ask to be transferred from the India call center to the Atlanta call center to request seating, and that they were working on that. I was also informed (which I figured) that Delta wasn't supposed to be offering status matches.

I won't go into a comparison between my Delta and Continental flights (some of my flights ended up being rebooked on CO codeshares because of a cancelled Delta flight), except to say that one bathroom on my Delta 757 from SLC to CVG had so much red maintenance tape on it that it looked like a crime scene. What ever happened to "The Airline Run by Professionals?"