Integration update and Q&As
 

Hello! We’ve been monitoring various threads and posts on the upcoming WorldPerks/SkyMiles integration and want to address some of your questions and concerns. Please also be sure to regularly visit delta.com for updated information on the integration and more FAQs.

Why did some WorldPerks members receive bonus miles and others did not?
These bonus miles were provided to our most frequent WorldPerks passengers – WorldPerks Platinum and Gold Elites – to thank them for their loyalty and patience as we merge the two programs. Specifically, these members may experience the most inconvenience as we merge our two programs together – WorldPerks Platinum Elites will experience a reduced Companion clearance window, and both WorldPerks Platinum and Gold Elites will be unable to upgrade on an Award Ticket until sometime in 2010, when it will be reinstated in the SkyMiles program. All other members, including SkyMiles Medallion members and WorldPerks Silver Elites, will not lose and may, in fact, enjoy new benefits as a result of the integration.

What’s happening with Elite Companion Upgrades?
First, we are NOT taking away companion upgrades for Platinum Elites. We’re modifying the Platinum Elite upgrade clearance window to mirror the existing SkyMiles window and adding unlimited, complimentary companion upgrades for Silver and Gold WorldPerks Elites. These companion upgrades will be available on Delta and Northwest flights and will clear for Elite members within 12 hours of departure, if available, after all Elites traveling alone have been cleared. In other words, upgrades for both the Elite member and the companion will clear within 12 hours if they are booked in the same passenger record and an upgrade is available. More information is available at delta.com.

Why was PerkChoice eliminated? Will it be reinstated?
Due to the significant challenges and resources required to integrate two programs on very different platforms, we are not able to develop this functionality for Delta at this time; however, a similar Pay with Miles program for eligible Delta SkyMiles American Express Cardmembers is available to purchase tickets with a combination of miles and money. Once total integration of the two airlines is completed, we will revisit the program and development of this option.

What happens to existing DL/NW/SkyTeam reservations? Do those that have a WorldPerks number attached get updated with the SkyMiles number?
In early October, we will replace WorldPerks numbers with SkyMiles numbers in the Delta reservations. Northwest and airline partner reservations will keep the WorldPerks numbers in the passenger record, but you will receive the benefits and earn miles, as appropriate.

I’m a WorldPerks member who doesn’t have a SkyMiles account. Should I create a SkyMiles account? Do I need to do anything?
It is not necessary to open a SkyMiles account. In October, SkyMiles and WorldPerks accounts will be combined into one program. You will be notified by e-mail or U.S. postal mail as soon as your WorldPerks account has been transitioned into your new SkyMiles account and is ready for use. You will receive your new number and credentials in October. Until then, you can continue using your WorldPerks number without any issues.

What happens if I already have a SkyMiles account but did not link accounts?
If you have more than one SkyMiles account after the two programs merge in October, you will be able to request to consolidate your SkyMiles accounts via delta.com.

Are my miles (redeemable, Elite qualifying and lifetime), upgrades, status and other WorldPerks account details safe?
Yes, they are safe and secure. There will be no change to your WorldPerks account details or miles. You may continue to earn and redeem miles with WorldPerks as usual, and no miles, upgrades or other account information will be misplaced or lost during the October integration.

What will be the expiration policy of my WorldPerks miles once they are transferred to my SkyMiles account?The mileage deposit of your WorldPerks miles into your new SkyMiles account (which will happen in October) will be considered qualifying activity and extend your mileage expiration date for 24 months. Moving forward, as long as you have any qualifying earning or redemption activity in your SkyMiles account within a 24-month period, your miles will never expire.

We hope this information is beneficial. We also recognize that you have other integration questions that we haven’t answered yet. Please stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks and months. Thanks!

since we (NWA Gold/Plats) will no longer receive EUA on W tickets how about DL grand those of us with W 012 tickets currently booked the ability to upgrade W to P for 5000 miles??? (Sorry but I dont trust EUA on W will be around anytime soon, I still remember the press release saying it was coming this past May for DL op flights)....only think this would be fair given the midyear reduction in benefits

Once again, severely "bending" the truth.
 

You are eliminating the Plat Companion upgrade, period. The Plat companion upgrade allows the companion of a plat to upgrade as a plat with the plat. The new benefit only allows a companion to upgrade after *ALL* other elites have been upgraded, and only 12 hours in advance. That means in order for a Plat to upgrade if they are traveling with someone else, they go to the VERY BOTTOM of the upgrade queue. The Plat Companion Upgrade was also good for ANY fare class, while the DL companion upgrade is not good for LUT fares.

Additionally, until a few months ago, all NW Plats and Golds ALREADY had the ability to request an upgrade for any companion at the airport, even if they were not in the same reservation. So again, you're just extending the previous at-airport benefit to Silvers, removing the ability to request the upgrade on the three lowest fare classes, and COMPLETELY ELIMINATING the plat companion upgrade.


Pay With Miles is NOT IN ANY WAY SIMILAR TO PERKCHOICE!


Perkchoice is available to anyone, and allows booking one half of an itinerary with miles and another half of that itinerary with cash. Both halves of the itinerary are upgradeable, and the half paid for with cash also earns RDM and EQM.

Pay With Miles is only available to those who pay an annual fee for an Amex credit card. If any portion of a ticket is paid for with miles, the ENTIRE itinerary earns no miles, earns no MQM, and is ineligible for upgrades.

On top of that, NW's version of pay with miles was also eliminated - US Bank cardholders could trade 10,000 miles for a $100 off certificate, AND the tickets bought with such certificates were eligible for upgrades and earned RDM and EQM.


Why is it so hard for you guys to just tell the truth?


Here is the truth:


NW's Gold/Plat Elite Companion Upgrade is being replaced with an Elite Companion Upgrade that is good for silvers, but not good on the three lowest fare classes like NW's Gold/Plat Elite Companion Upgrade was. The Platinum Companion Upgrade has been COMPLETELY ELIMINATED.


NW's "Pay With Miles", where a NW Credit Card holder could get $100 off certificates for 10,000 miles and purchase tickets that received upgrades, RDM and EQM has been replaced with DL's Pay With Miles, where $100 off can require as many as 25,000 miles, and tickets with even a small fraction of the value purchased with Pay With Miles receive no upgrades, no RDM, and no MQM. The Perkchoice feature has been COMPLETELY ELIMINATED.



Look, I get it, you can't maintain NW's elite benefits, whether it be because you're not willing or not able. Fine. Just say that! Don't try and convince us that you're not making changes when it's blatantly obvious that you're making significant changes! It's insulting to our intelligence.

I thank SkyMilesInsider for their 8th post on FlyerTalk. ^

However, I was hoping for some more interaction tailored to this community rather than copy & paste from what's already been emailed and put on delta.com. @:-)

Particularly troubling is the verbiage about PerkChoice. That's PR-speak, it's no where even close to the AMEX thing. Just be honest and tell us if it's gone forever or coming back, even in say 2011.

When can we expect genuine best in class product?
 

SkyMilesInsider, thanks for coming here and passing on this information although not much seems to be new.

When will DL.COM be benchmarked against genuine best-in-class functionality, like that provided by CO.COM (and formerly, NWA.COM before Deltification)? When can such functionality be expected? I'm not asking for achievement of actual best in class performance, which is far away, but how about simply displaying correctly which options SM members have for award travel and being able to book at that displayed level? Your benchmarking sessions need to include senior managers making redemption attempts on DL.COM with no special access priviliges, and simulating the entire process including calls to SMS to find elusive availability.

And what about the hated IOS that undermines totally any claim to be a "new global airline"? You've seen for yourselves the hard data from program redemption comparisons and you must even be embarrassed down in Virginia Street with how awfully SM compares. OnePass and AAdvantage miles are so much more valuable and useful than SM, it's a joke.

When will SM offer best in class performance, as opposed to management doublespeak "best in class"?

I am not sure if you realize how bad this looks from the outside in. Any and all propaganda about best-in-class is simply laughable in the face of the industry-worst performance of DL.COM and the serious failings of the SM program, no matter in what volume it is issued. It further undermines the credibility of the organization and needs to cease if published SM information is to be taken seriously by customers. Try taking a leaf from CO's playbook about clear, open and respected communication with elite SM members.

Cookie for you! So well put. This is what really pisses us NW Elites off - the "political" spin on the changes.

Agreed ... but what do you expect from a newbie who doesn't even know about Flyertalk cross-posting rules?

To expand on what Redtailshark said, what are Delta's plans to fix Delta.com award redemption engine? As we have been told, the much superior NWA.com award engine is going away and everyone will be using the Delta.com award calendar....which 99% of users hate and cannot use as confirmed by countless threads on this forum.

The Delta.com award calendar is broken...it often produces results that are different from what the calendar shows and often gives you various error messages or says there are no flights on that day when there really are. Furthermore, the overall low mileage level BE awards is shockingly absent compared to competition like CO when you get past 20 days out even if you are completely flexible. There is much speculation whether this lack of functionality is intentional to prevent award redemption or if its simply a colossal IT failure. It has to be one or the other and in either case in unnacceptable.

Therefore many skymiles holders are forced to call in to SMS when they redeem because the search engine is so buggy to the point where it doesn't work. This is especially true of complicated multi-city international tickets in BE where we need to tweak multiple cities and dates to find what we are looking for. However there are new rumors that SMS will now starting to limit only 3-5 date searches maximum to find award availability in order to encourage use of the broken online award engine.

Can you comment on Delta's plans to address this very important issue?

Thanks

Thanks very much for posting this SkyMilesInsider!

Like raehl311 and others I do very much wish there would be a more direct adressing by Delta of some of the issues that you were silent on, but I still find your post very helpful to see where Delta-NW is going.

There's a real lack of confidence at least among WorldPerks members that elite benefits are stable and dependable given the many unannounced or poorly announced devaluations - and often also hastily implemented. If Delta can be more interactive and forthright with their customers going forward, they can slowly win back or succeed in retaining many formerly loyal Northwest flyers. It's going to take a sustained effort over an extended period of time however, because we've been hit pretty hard.

You are never going to get answers to direct questions asked of DL here, Jeff has obviously abdicated his FF posting role to SKYMILESINSIDER who just as obviously is going to continue the Jeff method of posting.

1. Appear once every 6-8 weeks.
2. For the most part tell us nothing that we don't already know
3. Insult our intelligence (a la the above post) by thinking that we can't figure out the spin!
4. Occasionally throw in a minor news nugget (shortly before it goes out to the entire SM population) in a sad attempt to make us feel like we have the inside track
5. Occasionally propose a "what if" scenario so that we can be there no cost focus group - they'll gauge the reaction here to see if they should run with it or kill it.
6. Disappear and refuse to engage in any 2 way dialogue.

This has been the most disappointing thing about Delta Skymiles and its management since Jeff first showed up here. He promised to have open, honest and meaningful 2 way conversation. This has never ever happened, hence his credibility is in the toilet in my eyes, the new guy is getting there fast.

I know I probably won't get an answer but couldnt help but to ask anyway. The award redemption issues on Delta.com is my number 1 problem with Delta

Also, I cannot stand how they compare Perkchoice with pay by miles. Its worse then comparing apples to oranges. I personally believe the real reason why they are eliminating Perkchoice has little to do with IT, and much more to do with Delta not wanting to offer one-way award ticket options...mainly because it would open up a massive pool of flyers who have less then 25k miles who could suddenly redeem. Not to mention they would have to overhaul the Delta.com award engine and make it actually work in order for Perkchoice to be implemented.

Question to OP:

When will award booking, particularly international business class, on Delta.com be fixed?

Thank you.

Exactly... but Jeffys gang won't ever say it.

Skymilesinsider: I hope you'll be reading and taking some additional questions:

1. Are provisions being made for partner programs? In more detail:
a. Will incomming WP miles from partners be routed to our SM account?
b. Are arrangements being made to migrate partner programs - particularly ones with accumulation or status variables? (examples: Rewardsnetwork dining where people have earned Elite status or emiles where it takes time to accumulate to a redemption threshold).

2. Will we no longer earn miles on AF or KLM on lower fare classes? I see that SM doesn't earn miles currently on classes that WP does credit for.

3. Will you be a regular interactive member here or is it really just a way to communicate major policy changes? I see that your CO counterpart has over 1K posts after all.

Article picked up on USAToday.com touting the benefits being lost midyear by NWA elites