MikeMpls

Huh 2?

I just tried to book a trip MSP-ORD for 5/3-5. Delta.Bomb offerred me two options ($427 & $623), all jungle jets thru CVG & with a mismash of T & U fares. At the moment, Delta.Bomb can't even seem to find & interpret its own fare rules.

Expedia correctly prices an all-Delta itin for the same dates at $140 + Expedia's $5 fee.

Even when its initial flight offering is reasonable, Delta.Bomb regularly walks me through the whole selection & credit process & barfs at the end.

I'll agree with that only because I love cognac. Food & snacks (often far more important than the alcohol) are much better in NW lounges. I never have to pay for WiFi in DL lounges so that's a non-issue, although the login is faster in NW lounges.

This merger is looking to be a disaster for us. The big question is, do we switch to UA sooner or later?

Eidetic

Award tix on SQ are remote for most. The only real plus with DL in the pix, far outweighed by the negatives listed above, is for pax with a need for better mainline network to Tier B cities in the SE. For me, I'll take a 763 nonstop HNL/ATL with an MD88 or CR9 hop to GSP, etc., over two stops then a jungle jet out of MEM or DTW.

There's a theoretical plus for nonstops to more EU cities on DL, but the higher DL fares make short work of that theory.

bhatnasx

Later, IMHO - NW's done a pretty damn good job, IMHO, of taking care of its members & going forth with generally customer friendly polices (though I'm sure some will disagree). I don't think NW wants to alienate its best customers - so I think they'll attempt to make sure we're taken care of & I would give them that opportunity before flipping over to UA. Of course, that said, it's still February so if you're a NW Plat who wants to be a 1K, now's the time to start flying as 1K is 100K eqms vs 75K for NW plat. I'm currently a PremEx & will probably requal for PremEx on UA & Plat on NW again this year, so I'm also more willing to hold out than some folks who may not have any UA status.

youngbru

UA does not comp status - only challenges and only up to their equivalent of Gold (Premiere Executive or 1P). I asked for a status match last year with over 200k NW WP EQMs at the time and was only offered a 1P challenge which I handily met (actually ended the year with enough miles to qualify 1P w/o challenge). Of course if the NW/DL merger goes through, hard to tell what programs UA (or others) may put in place to poach unhappy NW/DL elites.


I for one am planning on making sure I have NW PE & UA 1K and not worrying as much about NW Elite ExtraPerks this year. If they would have had the same ExtraPerks program in place last year, I would probably not have bothered with UA and would have gotten the SWUs at 200k, 240k, 280k & maybe 320k (I ended up with 266k NW & 67k UA EQMs in 2007). As it is, because of the lack of extra incentive last year, I am already started on UA and the merger talks are just making me more motivated to ensure I have an alternative to Delwest.

The only good thing I can say about a merger is that at least it isn't US Air!

socrates

I'm going to hang on as long as possible (ie no plans to do anything at this time)...a senior exec came through yet again for me yesterday, NWA has almost always treated me well and I feel I owe it to them but if that time does come ugh...my choices wont be pretty but then I do believe the careers will look extremely different in the near future (US & DL are my best options today but I remain very loyal and use NW the majority of the time so as things stand today that means ugh..US is my 2nd best option)

troyintn

Overall, in my case it is not that big a deal. The worst thing would be loseing CO, I fly a ton of Delta living in the south. UA has way too many holes in the route network for where I fly.

MarkXS

I think we're getting too concerned. But then again, I'm coming from the perspective of not being an NW hub-captive, and NW just being my secondary program.

DL will bring a lot more routes, a western hub, much better in-flight soft and hard product in domestic Y, and hopefully a culture of employees who don't hate their employer.

As a lowly Silver, I'm not looking forward to my RDM bonus going down to 25% from NW's 50% (on everyone except DL.) But maybe they'll keep that aspect of WP. Maybe even keep the 125% for top-level.

Websites and overall IT both have their issues. DL would be well-served by keeping much of NW's automation. We have no idea what they will do. I worked for companies where Company A acquired Company B, but used 90% of Company B's IT platform because they recognized it was better. The website booking engines are looking very similar between the 3 domestic ST carriers anyway, with the mix/match options on awards, partner availability etc. It wouldn't surprise me if they have purchased or outsourced to some of the same code base.

Losing CO is no big deal for me. As much as CO is supposedly the best domestic carrier, I keep having problems with them screwing up irrops on me. I've got a nightmare to sort out from a CO-stock CO-origination ticket a couple of weeks ago that has a return on Monday on UA and US. Nobody can find the CO-reissued e-ticket. CO was very stingy about going the extra mile to re-route me on anybody else the night things went wrong. Even though DL on the phone said they had a seat for me, CO couldn't find it in their computer and gave up instead of writing me a FIM or printing the e-ticket and confirming me on the phone with the DL agent a few gates down. We'll be free of the CO low-fare 50% EQM nonsense too.

We might get some FF program devaluation. However we also get access to Amex Membership Rewards as a source of miles. Nice thing about that is MR doesn't expire, and you don't have to commit to what program you put the miles into until you're ready to redeem.

We also get a well-needed IMHO culture-shock: an infusion of non-disgruntled customer-facing employees, and the reduction of Steenland's role which might lessen the disgruntlement of the legacy NW employees.

I hope we get to keep NW's call centers compared to DL's horrible ICC. I'll guess that keeping the call centers might be one of the givebacks to MN that NW agrees to with MN politicos to get them to shut up about the merger.

I'm thinking that NW being acquired by DL is probably our best-case option, if you work on the assumption that NWA as standalone airline is not long-term financially viable.

Wildman

One concern is redeeming miles, my wife has some miles with DL. Flights were available for a standard award, but DL wanted an extra $50-$100 dollars because it was within the 3 week time from departure. We both are PE with NW, so we use our miles whenever we want....no additional charge. That is when I use my miles for standard awards, short notice, save big bucks....in this area DL stands for Darn Loser! DL wants cash with miles!
WP is a much better program than SkyMiles. Hopefully they can keep both options open to us.

USF03

But the million dollar question is whether our BIS miles would transfer into DL's Million Miler balance.

jjlovecub

Would the routes remain? By that I mean if I'm going to PIT can I still go TPA-DTW-PIT instead of TPA-ATL-PIT? Reason being, one of the main reasons I fly NWA is every trip nets my 2966 miles vs 2000 on DL. That equates to a lot fewer trips to hit PE. I can't even bear to think about the upgrade % though - I think it will take a real hit.

psychtobe

The Western Hub is less of an advantage than some of you think. Flying up and down the left coast I still won't use it; flying PDX-SLC-LAX is still ridiculously out of the way and takes 3 times as long as the nonstop. SLC only helps if you're flying to/from somewhere in the southern part of the country, and IAH has always been a perfectly good option for that. If NW and CO sever ties, and NW/DL looks anything like DL, I'd be gone.

Jaimito Cartero

It's a big deal for me. Most of my Central and South American flying is through CO/CM. 75% of my reward tickets the last two years have been on CO metal. I actually enjoy the upgrades I get on paid CO flights to Central and northern South America. I'm probably 80% on upgrades on CO internationally, to these areas, so would have to lose that nice benefit.

I would much rather have a CO/AS hookup, than a CO/UA, unless CO is the controlling partner. I doubt this, since when I looked at market cap, UA is way beyond CO.

peppes

I have always hated DL, but I actually had a really good flight with them from SDQ to JFK on a 757. We got a meal in Y, and the movie on demand is great.

So maybe we will start to see some meals and entertainment on NW if the merger comes together.

Across the atlantic DL sucks compaired to NW.

Nicolai

Tedeman

Just talked with a colleague who shares my love for all things Red Tail and we both shared our strong dislike for all things Delta (maybe except fr CVG). This merger thing has us each waiting to see how it shakes out, but with an acknowledgment that UA is beginning to look better, especially if CO is its partner. And if they rolled out comped status, etc........ well.... If you can avoid LH, the UA/CO international product would be pretty good and the CO lounges are really nice.

But, the most prudent thing is to wait and see what happens and if NW Elites can keep some of the "niceties" that we've enjoyed. Given how NW treated their pilots, FAs, and so forth... I'm not hopeful in this process.

T

respectable_man

NW as a whole has always treated me extremely well, irrespective of the disputes between labor and management. MY hope is that, if DL takes over, they will treat me as nicely as NW does now.