I very much remember bring up with Larry at the informal dinner thing on the first night of the DO how I thought SkyTem was subpar and just not of Continental quality, he was soo not impressed ! :p

It must be tough knowing the truth but having to try and figure a cool spin on it... I bet even CO Marketing/PR has trouble on this one (making Sky Team seem comparable to Star or OneWorld - the acent on the commericals is a start, but a british accent only goes do far)

-Vincent

So based on the (information) so far, I'm guessing the answer is this:

Without going into the nuances of last night's call with Delta's outsourced call center in India, I've gotta agree with the posts about their service. As an example, on the phone they "upgraded" me to row 16 on a 737-800; I just happened to have seat guru open, and saw that its a non reclining seat. The supervisor had the temerity to say "well a lot of our customers prefer the non-reclining seat so they can sit further up." Uh-huh and I got a bridge goin' real cheap in Brooklyn. I kept row 23. Glad Continental basically flies everywhere Delta does ('cept Idaho Falls) :p

You're entitled to nothing on Delta according to DL. No Continental prolly cant give you premium seats as those are controlled by DL I bet...

-Vincent

That has been my experience too.

The India call center will usually refuse to cough up preferred seating.

However, if you get through to the North American call center, you usually can get somewhere. I had to waste a bunch of time today, but as a NW Silver Elite, I finally got exit row seat assignments from DL on two upcoming itineraries.

In case you need some ammunition, preferred seating is clearly a published benefit for SkyTeam Elites.

DL is generally a very unattractive option. Its one saving grace, for mileage runners and those who want to pick up extra miles, is that you can almost always connect through ATL with no increase in fare no matter how geographically nonsensical the routing. For example, I am flying AUS-ATL-SJC and vice versa on two upcoming trips to get the extra miles.

And while it sounds like CO elites get a raw deal on EQMs on discounted DL fares, we NW elites get full 100% EQM credit on DL-operated flights. But the 50% EQM hit is probably mostly CO's fault, just as other SkyTeam elites suffer the same on CO-operated flights on discounted fares and CO flyers suffer on bookings made anywhere other than www.continental.com/.

hence see my previous post redefine "disgust"

-Vincent

Having just gotten my e-tix for a Delta flight this weekend, and reading this thread, that feeling of dread makes its' return.

The only non-stops from NY to Athens are either this pig or Olympic (which is a bit better in the movie selection). I often wonder if the extra slog all the way to JFK to get this direct flight is worth it over taking some other flight out of Newark and having to stop somewhere in Europe for a connection.

At the very least, this flight will guarantee at least gold elite for '06, and since my company buys everything at great expense and at the last minute, my $2000 economy ticket will ensure 100% eqm (one would hope).

Last time I had to deal with the Delta Indian call center, I could not get preferred seating neither with my NW Plat status nor my CO Plat status - was told to request it at check in.

However, I was able,to get a preferred seat for my brother who is a silver elite with KLM, after explaining the agent (among other things) that KLM was not the city of Kuala Lumpur :D but an airlines and that Skyteam was an airlines alliance Delta was part of...

I'd had throw the phone out the window...

-Vincent

I agree with all of the above - NW recognizes CO elites, and vis versa, DL extends no privileges, in fact their ground staff are generally pissy with me when I show my CO gold card. I don't really care about the upgrades on DL, however with all the SkyTeam ads (the jetway moving across the street in an Asian city, etc.) you'd think they'd be a bit more pleasant towards high volume customers. If Sky Team was smart, they'd ditch DL.

What pisses me off about Delta's call center is that you have to tell the bot your record locator, and even if it's an international one, it transfers you to the domestic agents. :rolleyes:

I'm all for using technology to make things smoother, but do it right!

Well I found the SkyTeam quote above as well and sent it in an e-mail requesting "preferred seating." I'm not holding my breath.

This is my first experience with the lovely SkyTeam and their 10 great reasons for flying them. Not a great start - but not that I believe that these alliances are anything but marketing gimmicks anyway - what with so many disclaimers that basically say "actual benefits may vary from published benefits."

add me to the chorus. Delta USED to be a great airline. In the past couple of years, they've completely become an absolute disaster. I a a "Flying Colonel" on Delta and now I avoid them like the plague. Their inflight service stinks, their on-time stinks, and they certainly don't contribute anything to SkyTeam.

Someone should give the people in India who prolly programed the "intelligent routing" of thier toll free numbers and explain to them the difference between domestic and internatonal...

-Vincent

While I have no experience in this situation, I did try the opposite...

I have no status with CO anymore, but I still have DL silver. Earlier this year I booked a ticket on CO using my OnePass number. Only seats in the back of the plane were available and I chose one. Then I decided to change my Frequent Flyer # on continental.com to my DL Skymiles #. After I did that, the front of the plane became available and the website recognized my elite status.