Sky Team probably has the best domestic coverage in the US, so for work or leisure I am covered. In addition, the WP Program for elites I think is as good as it gets on any legacy. Often a traveling companion upgrades with me for free on leisure trips and that cannot be overlooked. Oh yeah... there is a certain airline in CLT that has a hub that is shall we say AWFUL!!! That inspires the decision also.

I live in MSP, so it is the obvious choice. Good upgrade success, even as SE. Reward tickets - I've had good luck using miles at standard levels - a little flexibility on dates works wonders. 125% mileage match. Four or more rows of first class on every plane.

As GTITAN mentions about CLT, flying US is a traumatic experience in my book. I maintained status on NW and had it on US. After moving back to MSP, it is all NW all the time.

That choice of a :-: was appropriate since I count my lucky :-:s daily. I've been fortunate to find a way to make it work.

I do not fly because I want to. I fly because of the nutritional value of flying..No fly-no eat!

I fly NW because DL pissed me off royally after over 3MM.

Sounds interesting. Care to expound?

I go to grad school at Michigan and fly out of DTW. NW gives me nonstop domestic flights to wherever I need to go and upgrades me on most of them. Better terminal too. Also, the 15K SIN-DTW upgrades for the decent ex-SIN Y fares aren't half bad.

I fly because I live in two places that are far apart, and driving is not an option.

I am a member of WP because, well, because. I have yet to set foot on an NW plane this year.

They devalued their miles many years ago (remember FT'ers who bought an add in the WSJ? Mikey was one of them)

Recently they did away with "old miles" and converted them to new miles....talk about how not to treat your best customers

I fly NW because of it's hubs. I don't have to connect through IAD, ORD, DFW, LAX, SFO, or JFK. DTW and MSP are great places to connect through, maybe except in the winter

I fly NW because I like quick connection times. I don't want to be hanging around in an airport for 5-7 hrs.

I fly NW because they have lounges that don't offer drink passes/coupons. I want to drink all I want and not be limitied.

I fly NW because I do business in Asia and their flights to Asia are fantastic (outside of no NRT-TPE).

I fly NW because it just works for me.

I live in DTW and have to fly every week for work, NW is the obvious choice.

I like its elite line agents who's been nice/patient helping me search complex award routes.

I like its skyteam alliance, esp. in Asia.

Maybe because I am a workaholic, banking miles is a lot easier than using it; trying to convince my parents to use my miles hasn't been easy.

Let's see... prefer NW b'cos

1. from home, LGA is only 10mins vs 1:10h to EWR (I'm in Manhattan's UES)

2. reasonable coverage in Asia among US based carriers (still have to work on the KUL, SGN, HAN and DPS routes)

3. I'm 3/3 for op-up on NRT-HNL - great for mileage runs from Asia to USA

4. better chances of EUA vs CO's battlefield upgrades

5. poor schedules working in my favor (<18hr westcoast layover mini-vacations)

6. CO- and KL- codeshares for mileage runs thru IAH and AMS

7. WP program slightly better than OP or SkyMiles

1. NW has lovely China-US routes (I'm a Chinese currently living in the states)

Yes Air China and United offers non-stop services, but all of them are 744... 744 economy cabin is intolerable -- they don't provide IFE. I love window seats but I'm by no means glad to ask the two guys sitting beside me to stand up when I want to go out.

2. Skyteam has the best coverage and offers the best choices within the states.

3. NW livery is absolutely AWESOME.

Hm. "Lovely" is a new way to describe them...

Best option to Asia from SEA and the only non-stops to MSP. Plus, EQMs on AS.

I was very involved in the DL forum www.saveskymiles.com program. We rebelled at many of the changes that DL made in the Skymiles program. I gave many interviews on Radio,and newspapers including Wall Street Journal (I didnt have a wood cut photo image )

Along with 3 other DL flyers, I met with DL Skymiles Director and others in management.

On FT, from totally anonymous individuals on a web forum, we raised money. Bought ads in USA Today pushing SSM. We also rented a mobile truck sign that drove around the block during the DL annual meeting. We made and distributed buttons that said Driving Every Loyal Traveler Away. All from people who never met. Only one pledge was not sent in. (FT is a strong community)

Many of the issues were corrected. full MQMs for all fares etc. But my biggest hang up was DL's decision to not count segments.

Traveling in a relatively small geographic area, segment credit was crucial for me to remain PM. I told Robbie Boy Borden that flyers like me were getting screwed and if DL didn't revert back to segment credit, I would take my 125 trips a year somewhere else.

NW was gracious enough to comp me to GE and I achieved PE almost immediately and have been relatively happy ever since.

FYI, DL has since reneged on other promises made ten years ago. When DL switched from their Frequent Flyer Program to SlyMiles, they promised in print that all OLD miles earned as part of the Frequent Flyer Program would never expire. And, if you maintained constant Medallion status, those miles would always be redeemed at the old redemption chart. They took that away last year when they moved old miles into Slymiles.

So, Mikey is not very happy with Dulta