JRF, I have the feeling you are wrong -- apparently I am NOT that smart a person!

I knew that Delta has a partnership arrangement with El Al, but I did not realize that when I buy an M Class ticket from Delta, they, in turn, buy a deeply discounted ticket from El Al and credit me with the lower miles.

Nor did I take the MQM factor into consideration. As far as I was concerned, I had gone to Delta, paid them for an M Class trip to FLL, and expected them to give me all the benefits -- whether I went on their metal (impossible from here), Skyteam partner metal, or El Al.