I still don't really understand what happened here. What elite status did you have, and how had you earned/received it? Did you have a Silver trial membership? Something else? Were you supposed to fly X miles?

Though I suppose it's possible that someone might decide to downgrade you out of spite, I find it hard to believe and you haven't said enough for me to really follow your argument.

But since you think the NW program stinks, I'm guessing you'll be fine on DL. I just hope you earn at least Gold and are not stuck with a 25% silver elite bonus.

fwiw, CO seems very generous with comps and provides essentially the same benefits as NW, along with a few enhancements.