yes it did have the NW in front of the 9 digit number. Sorry for any confusion.

I'm a loyal WP Gold that (unfortuantely) has been doing quite a bit of travel on Delta lately. My experiences:

1. I have yet to find anyone at Delta able to swap in/out a WP number. I have been given about 6 different variations on "you do it this way", and also been told point-blank that it can't be done. I've spent probably a cumulative 4 hours on hold trying to get it done...no luck. I've lost 3 long RT flights to this problem. My suggestion...just get your WP number in there when you buy the ticket and ride it out from there on. Don't try anything that would involve swapping in/out your WP and SkyMiles numbers. At this point, there don't seem to be many (if any at all) people that know how or are willing to do the change.

2. You can do on-line check in via Song (as noted above). Seat selection is definitely somewhat lame compared to NW, but what are ya gonna do? I've had good luck checking in via Song and then having the gate/ticket agent give me better seats once I was at the airport.

3. If you want to upgrade using SkyMiles awards...you can pretty much forget about earning any WP credit. See #1 above...you have to get your SkyMiles number in your itenarary to use the awards, and trying to get your WP number back in there is (virtually) impossible.

4. IMHO...be prepared for lame service. I just got back from a trip that had 4 segments, 2 of them on either an RJ or ATR. The RJ/ATR segments were actually shorter in duration than the segments on the MD-80...but I got better service on the ASA puddlejumpers than I did on the Delta 80.

I've tried to remain open-minded about flying on Delta occasionally, but it's come to the point that I dread flying with them.

this is the key! as long as you don't let your skymiles number anywhere near the record, you should be fine. i've had very good success with delta agents correctly entering a NW number into a record with no FF number. and worst case, you're faxing NW for retro credit, and your boarding pass indicates no FF number, so getting credit is a breeze.

i'm also a semi-loyal NW flyer, and i use DL primarily for the BOS-LGA shuttle, tho i am taking a T-fare BOS-ATL roundtrip next month (bulkhead/exit aisles on 767's, and 100% EQM on NW? why not!)

1A...I'm in total agreement.

I've not had any problems getting my WP number into my Delta flights...it's only trying to switch it in/out for upgrades (or the time I screwed up and used my SkyMiles card at the kiosk to check in) that've caused me problems.

Before anyone gets going about "it's possible to switch"...I'm sure that it is. But in my experience VERY few people are able to pull it off (no one that I've run across). That includes SkyMiles and WP customer support, Red Coats, etc. etc. If you want credit for a trip you're much better served by just getting your WP number in there and not messing about with anything else.

I have had silver status with both NW and DL but now aim to consolidate all of my mile-earning on WorldPerks. I had given up on flying DL much at all until the announcement of 100% credit through WorldPerks.

I booked a DL flight for Feb. 4-6 ($110 for nearly 4000 status miles). Based on what I read I decided to forego the DL upgrades. I booked the flight via the website, since it has a peculiar routing, and called DL today to add my NW Worldperks number. I was assured it was added. Since I never included my Skymiles number I am assuming all is well. For all those cheap status miles, I will just go with coach!

(Now would someone convince NW to again offer flights from IAH to the west coast??!! Via their hubs, I mean...)

[This message has been edited by Watchful (edited Jan 17, 2004).]