That version of "smiley" looks like a wall outlet to me.

Just saying.

Anyway, with the proliferation of new service steadily infringing upon Delta's Atlanta fortress - the latest being JetBlue offering round-trip service between Atlanta and Long Beach 3 times per day - perhaps Delta should continue to think about further improving their operations and SkyMiles program the way they have been doing via enhancements to be more competitive and attract more business...

- Eliminate the Platinum Medallion level altogether. Who needs it, anyway?

- Add as many more seats on their current aircraft as possible to attempt to increase revenue - even if it means totally eliminating lavatories and galleys.

- Raise the award level of a coach class ticket to 100,000 SkyMiles off-peak.

- L, U and T fares earning .5 MQMs? Delta has it all wrong, and everybody who protested here was correct to do so. Why not Y, B and M fares earning .5 MQMs, L, U and T fares earning .125 MQMs and the rest of the fares earn .25 MQMs.

- Foam costs money and weighs down an airplane. So do food and drinks, as well as carpeting, pillows and blankets. Remove them completely from the aircraft.

- Fly only propellor planes out of Atlanta with an occassional rare CRJ as a desired bonus.

These are just some suggestions that should make Delta Air Lines more competitive and popular.

DISCLAIMER: In case there are any lurkers from Delta reading this, I am not seriously requesting these enhancements. Solely for the sake of levity, I am only kidding. Repeat: I am only kidding.

But is the satirical view I just presented really that far off the mark? In all seriousness, the bottom line is that I would rather fly in a new airplane with leather seats and free entertainment for $299 to the west coast rather than fly in some 20-plus-year-old aircraft in an uncomfortable coach seat with little entertainment, often for more than twice the price.

Waiting until 2004 to leave Delta is already paying off with the latest announcements by AirTran (expanding westward with new service to Denver) and JetBlue. It will be interesting to see how commercial aviation changes during the rest of this year.

Can Southwest invading Atlanta become a reality in the near future as well???