I'm in a similar position. Most of my travel is planned months or even years in advance. (For example, I have a business meeting in Honolulu in October 2005.) Obviously, I buy tickets very far in advance, with an effort to catch sales when they occur.

I used to buy Delta's K fares so that I could upgrade. As a PM buying so far in advance, I was almost always upgraded. But now, with the introduction of U and then T fares, the K-fare differential has become huge. My employers can't justify paying the difference. That will land me in coach more and more often. And coach on Delta is really intolerable for a frequent flyer, even a small person like me (5'6", 140 pounds).

So, I have been drifting toward United and liking them a lot. They have much better planes, as we all know. Their upgrade policies are much better. Coach is tolerable when you can't upgrade, because of E+, even for long flights. And the employees have been very nice to me (although others report different experiences). I have even been able to use my Mileage Plus miles for award tickets with almost no problems.

Finally, Delta under Leo Mullin seems to have adopted a customer-hostile attitude that I am unwilling to accept or even tolerate. I know that all airlines would love to fill their planes with last-minute, premium-fare passengers, but that's not going to happen. The world has lots of people like me. I fly an awful lot (250,000 miles annually), but I can and do buy cheap fares well in advance. Is that some sort of crime? I don't think so.

Bruce