Have to fly Delta for the first time...
 

Sigh... I have been a very loyal Continental customer for years, but the cost of the economy has my company cutting costs... So, my SBA trips now have to be on Delta. I am not looking forward to it, but it should be fine. I was able to get a status match to Gold on Delta.

So, how is Delta? What are their upgrade possibilities like?

I've been on Delta quite a bit these days and I have to say my experiences have been very good. DL has some huge F cabins and I think most routes should be very easy for you to upgrade. Indeed, the reason I am often on DL is because CO is almost always sold out in F by the time I buy my tickets whereas DL usually has multiple seats available.

So far, on board service has been very good for me on DL. The food quality is not as good as CO but the flight attendants tend to be a bit warmer and less mechanical than those on CO. Also, nearly all of my DL flights have had standard AC plugs for my laptop and AVOD, which is much better than what CO is currently offering.

I have no strong feelings about DL's FF program but, from what I understand, it has recently been gutted. I continue to credit all miles to CO but that won't work if you want upgrades.

I like Delta a lot. It's easy to get status on Delta--you can earn the equivalent of EQM's (called MQM's on Delta) from sources other than flying.

My experience is that it is much easier to get upgraded as a Gold Medallion on Delta than as a Platinum Elite on Continental. If you hit Platinum you'll earn six SWUs from Delta; though I have found it pretty easy to get an international upgrade on Delta using miles.

Overall, when it comes to earning upgrades, Delta is superior to Continental.

The PMUs (the DL name for SWUs) require a ticket purchased in one of the top three fare buckets (Y/B/M, I believe) and upgrade into restricted inventory (I, I believe). So they are there but they have some reasonable restrictions on them. I know that my father (DL Plat) has had trouble redeeming them on occasion. Not sure if that is typical or not, but it has happened to him.

The partner MQM earning can be ridiculous, depending on what promos they are running. I believe that in both 2007 and 2008 it was possible to make Gold without ever getting on an airplane.

Right on both accounts with the Delta SWUs; however, I haven't had a problem using them. As with most travel, it involves planning.

It certainly was possible to hit Gold last year without flying. Some people even claimed they hit Platinum without flying. Despite this easy route to elite status, it's still easier to get upgraded on DL than on CO.

Since you are probably flying midcon or transcon means that miles are more important than segments. For some of us, segments get us our elite status and DL does not give out segments which is why I do not fly DL. It is a shame because I would like to give them a try.

EQMs on DL
 

As of now you can still get Onepass EQMs when flying Delta, though, right? I have plans to fly Delta on a trip in December and want to make sure the miles get credited to my OP account (i'd prefer to fly CO, but the ticket's $9,000+ on them, versus $3,900 on DL). Thanks!

Yes you can it all depends on your class of ticket see here from the prices you gave I am guessing it is a BE ticket so you should net 150% EQMs.

If you are on an RJ you will also find there is no food other than the snack basket and more often than not I find they "forget" to cater the adult beverages.

I am Platinum for years but will only make Gold (or probally Silver if my November and December trips cancel) on CO next year. If I want to switch to Delta, what will be the best time to do the status match? In December or January?

Yes, sort of. It is Y/B/M for international, but domestic flights (including Hawaii) are upgradeable from other classes - I think K and above. Bear in mind, also, that the cost of an M fare, in my experience, tends to run about the same as a CO fare + upgrade fee, so your out of pocket cost is not any higher. Of course, if you don't get the upgrade on DL, you don't get a refund of the extra money... You do get 150% MQMs and RDMs for Y/B/M fares, which is a plus.

Also, the fare classes are G, for domestic and Z for international. Availability depends on the route, it seems, but seems neither terrible nor great.

It doesn't matter. As long as you are still currently Platinum they should match you in based on that. And the expiration of the match will be the same either way, likely Feb. '10.

I believe they match only to Gold.

This year I flew DL for the first time ever. I was pleasantly surprised, even though the flight (Connection to CVG, mainline to JFK) had a four hour ground hold in CVG and a large ceiling panel fell off during flight and later on landing (that was actually pretty funny).

The crew let people off the aircraft (752 w/AVOD) twice. The first time they gave everyone $7 meal vouchers ^. OTOH the plane was about half full and a good fraction of the passengers were deadheading crew (DL & other airlines). I asked a B6 E190 pilot if those planes still crash all the time :D.

Delta will match up to Gold status and it should be good through February 10. The process is very, very slow. It can take up to three weeks to honor the request.