I don't see any changed the SkyMiles program lately. Probably you will find out soon enough.

Rumor that GMs will be Sky Team Elite Plus in 2011. Can anyone confirm this? Would love ST lounge access on intra-europe flights next year.

Confirmed - announced at the DO

will the new GM cards say ELITE PLUS

I agree, but this jsut tells you how bad service is all the way around. Even people that say airline x is better, are fooling themselves service will continue to decline unless ticket prices go way up.

I will say this for FO/Silver Medallion, whatever your preference. It is definitely an UPGRADE from being a part of the non-elite masses. 2010 was my first year as FO/Elite and i took advantage of it as best I could - premium seat selection (Exit Row), earlier boarding, occasional upgrades for myself and non-elite flying companions(yes, yes, they do happen). Since it was my first exposure to elite status, maybe I am just in that honeymoon phase and it will wear off like it sounds like it has for the rest of you that have been a part of this for awhile. They have to tier things, they have to provide benefits that motivate people to try and achieve the next level...this is not a socialist republic where in theory we all get treated the same...sorry. I qualified for Gold in 2011 (barely, but with the help of this forum to get a last minute cheap flight to qualify) and I am excited to see what my experience will be like...but I accept the fact that a Platinum member+ will have better benefits than me...they earned it and I am not going to complain about that.

I only have two beefs with DL. First is the inability to redeem low-tier award tickets. My wife and I traveled to Hawaii for 8 straight years on low-tier award tickets/cash and miles programs and since the merger, have been shut out...and my wife looks every day, multiple times trying to find flights. We used to have WAY better luck in the past. Low-level award tickets to Hawaii on DL are now like unicorns...they look great on paper and little kids like myself love them, but we will never see one. The last beef is that you can no longer get uipgrades to Hawaii on award tickets. Someone burst my bubble on that a month back or so after I was excited about obtaining Gold Status.

Cheers

Even the ability to choose preferred seating is a great benefit, especially for those that do not get upgraded all the time. As for the upgrade on Hawaii award tickets, complimentary upgrades to Hawaii aren't even offered on revenue tickets.

Wonder if you could use an Alaska Airlines flight to get there. (Tho I wouldn't be overly excited to fly a 737 to Hawaii...)

I checked a few times at the end of last month as I was contemplating a Hawaii trip this spring (April / May), and found a few days with low award - but I was logged in as Diamond. I think this may be one of those areas where being a DM helps ( If I remember correctly I had leave on a Tue and return on a Wed to get the low award level, and it was a few connections each way, but it was there).

Still no announcement, and only 1 day 'til 2011 hits. Maybe no changes will be made?

Coming in 2011
Focus Our Action Plan
Mileage upgrade Award We will add the ability to redeem mileage upgrade Awards online.
Miles and money Award We will re-introduce the former PerkChoice^ program, which allowed members to combine miles and money when buying a ticket. This program feature will supplement our existing Pay with Miles program for current Delta SkyMiles Gold, Platinum and Reserve SkyMiles Cardmembers from American Express.

https://www.delta.com/skymiles/about...ates/index.jsp

With all due respect, that's a touchy-feely warm fuzzy, not a delineation of the 2011 program. Bullet points with specific changes (improvements? enhancements? de-enhancements?) should be made available, and hopefully soon.

As one example, many have said in multiple threads, the radio-silence on the rollover rules is perplexing and frustrating.

Me-thinks we should start an hourly (or minute) countdown for them.

You know, just sorta helping them out.

I'll Start - T Minus 37 hours and 5 minutes, or 2,225 minutes remaining until next year (Eastern Time Zone), which I will assume as Hotlanta is in the Eastern Time Zone is the "correct" zone to use.

Feel free to keep posting the time remaining. We can have some fun with this.

they don't always thank them on the announcements. :D

Here we are almost 1 month into the new year, and still no word from DL on the 2011 program. I've booked almost all my travel for Q1. I suspect lots of others have too. It certainly would be nice to know what changes are coming before we get much deeper into the travel year. (Of course, I am sure DL probably doesn't think that way).