MKEbound

As a NW elite, is there any reason to be excited about a NW-DL merger?

And by merger, I mean take over by DL since that what this looks like it will be.

Most of these points are only my humble opinion, but I think most frequently fliers would agree with me.

Worldperks is much better than Skymiles. The simple fact that you have to sometimes pay (fuel surcharges) hundreds of dollars to redeem miles makes them much less valuable.

Worldclubs are better than Crown Rooms. Snack selection, free wifi, drink selection, all better at WC's

Domestic upgrade chances are much better on NW for elite's. DC9's, A319/20's all have 16 F seats (14-16% of seats are in F) on the 752 & 753's we get 22-24 F seats. DL is pretty close in ratio of seats in Domestic FC mainline aircraft, HOWEVER they use a lot of CRJ's with no F cabin. NW has been adding the CRJ900 with 12 FC seats and the ERJ175 with 12 FC seats - Delta's ERJ170s only have 6 F seats.

Domestic F experience. I know that NW doesn't offer the best domestic F, but Delta is much worse. No meals in F on flights up to 1550 miles? Under DL policy no more meal MSP-LAX (1536 miles) or MSP-SEA (1401) or DTW or MSP-MIA (or to anywhere in Florida from DTW or MSP) I flew ATL-SJU in DL F this year (1543 miles) and couldn't believe how bad the F service was. No meal, one snack from the basket, two rounds of drink service.

Web site: NWA.com wins hands down (hopefully they are smart enough to keep)

Phone agents: I haven't used the 1-800 number for DL elite's, but it's hard to imagine they are better than the awesome NW elite line.

Is there any reason why we should be excited about DL taking over NW?

Jaimito Cartero

With DL driving the bus, I have dread in my heart.

If they keep the companies basically separate, it might be okay. While NW is not perfect, the times I've had to fly DL have shown the vast superiority of the product. I love the customer service that I get from the elite line, and am honestly worried about the good people we threw a party for just months ago.

Honestly, I've stuck with NW through thick and thin, through the mechanics stuff, work to rules, and so many other things. I'd hate to have it shot down because of a merger with DL.

As an alternative, I've got to start thinking of good ways to blow millions of frequent flyer miles if they get stupid. Sigh.

MikeMpls

Excitedly nervous, perhaps. My concerns were summarized here.

I simply don't want to be a SkyMiles member. SkyMiles has proven over time that they can't be trusted. 50% EQM's, non-upgradable discount fares, gutting of SkyChoice (DL equivalent of PerkPass), and now their new "pay-with-miles" options have been a continuing series of "enhancements" that undermine the value of their FF program. A couple of these changes were rolled back after a large scale revolt & defections by SkyMiles members, but they haven't learned and are at it again, albeit with a more incremental approach so as not to alienate large numbers at once.

Unfortunately, this risk of make a decision too soon is that a couple of the better alternatives (UA, CO) are also likely merger partners. One could easily jump out of the pan into the fire.

Stripe

No, there is no reason to get excited. Quite the opposite. I think you hit most of the points. I would add the following things NW elites get that you can kiss goodbye...

• Platinum companion upgrades. DL has a very limited program but NW plat companions clear at the plat window.
  
• US-based phone agents. DL uses India based phone agents. I'm not sure whether the elites have to put up with that but IME they are quite useless.
  
• 125% mileage bonus for plats. DL's is 100%.
  
• AS upgrades.
  
• Elite ExtraPerks. DL gives plats a SWU each year but its use is quite restricted.
  
• Priority baggage handling for all elites. DL limits theirs to plats and only on intl flights.
  
• Less expensive lounge membership, and the NW lounge amenities are far superior.
  
• Reciprocal elite benefits on CO.

I will likely do a status match to CO once the merger happens and ops begin to be consolidated -- unless CO merges with UA, in which case I'll probably just stop flying.

I will miss NW. It's a shame since they really seemed to be getting their act together since bankruptcy.

BobH

Another reason, not to get excited -- the merger may not be finished -- if you believe what the Free Press said today (2/8) for two years....

and it'll take some time after that to implement changes to the elite program and the WCs.

By then we'll be worrying about who will be running for US President in 2012 !

Bob H

Savage25

The only good thing about the Skymiles program for me is the ability to redeem miles on SQ. With a merger, I have no doubt that benefit will go away, since its probably a leftover from the days of the DL/SR/SQ alliance.

SAT Lawyer

The only two reasons to be excited are that we NW elites will be able to get upgraded on DL flights after such a merger and we will be able to redeem miles on SQ, as Savage25 has noted. Of course, the fall-out from the union might result in a break in the alliance with CO such that we no longer have reciprocal upgrade benefits on CO, especially if CO feels the need to find another dance partner. That, for me, would be a horrendous trade-off given my geographic location and need to fly CO more often that not on my domestic travels.

Others have already highlighted many of the probable negative consequences if DL winds up calling the shots. One that hasn't been highlighted that would also be a terrible blow is the fact that while DL allows elites and sometimes non-elites to snag exit row space from the time of booking on domestic itineraries, it does not allow its elites to pre-reserve exit row seats on transcontinental flights. I can't stomach the thought of being in a seat lottery at the airport, the gate, or online check-in with a number of people competing for a finite amount of superior economy class seats on international long-hauls. Just a dreadful policy in my estimation.

motytrah

The only plus we would have here is Anderson is the CEO of DL. One would think that he is pre-disposed to some of the things NW already does well operationally (such as US based call centers).

On the other hand, under his leadership at DL, the FF program has been devalued. One would expect that WP would be toast.

I would also expect duplicate clubs to get cut, and fares to go up slightly.

blahter

Redeeming miles on SQ

Yeah, I think that's it although the upgrade list screen at the gates are pretty nice.

bhatnasx

Me too. If this happens, and they push the DL policies & level of customer service on us, I'm defecting to UA - even though I hate them. I hate them less than I hate DL. If it's a partnership like AF-KL, I would probably stick with NW - but if its a merger like HP/US, I'm more than likely jumping ship.

bhatnasx

Good review...the only benefit I can think of is better western US distribution for NW. The AA partnership at LAX helps get to some smaller airports & the AS distribution out of SEA/PDX helps to - but SLC's distribution would be nice. That said, I wonder if they'd get rid of CVG as a hub. It's a dump of an airport (IMHO) and with DTW/MEM in the area, it wouldn't be as necessary.

respectable_man

I was not aware of this, but this alone would be enough for me to sail away. I consider advanced seat selection to be one of those benefits that cost nothing or not much to the airline but that is essentially priceless on TATL flights.

ENIAC

I'm in agreement with all the bad points, and really don't like Delta.

But there is at least the possibility that a merged airline might achieve economies of scale that permit it to survive the oncoming recession. So the alternative might be merger vs. nothing rather than merger vs. business as usual.

Whether the economies turn out to be real is another question. Ugly as the US Airways merger was, it has apparently lowered costs.

ENIAC

Yeah, but wouldn't MEM be going too?

thezipper

NO! There aren't any reasons to be excited about a NW-DL merger!

While Stripe has categorized many of the items, lets not forget about the planes too... we have nice NEW wide body A330's over the atlantic, and pacific. The fleet renewal is on-going ERJ's are coming on-line, the D-9's are being removed... remember DL still has ~130 or so MD-80/90's in the fleet and older 767's that won't have a full biz class refit until late 2009-10. I know we have a problem with CRJ's... but here's one word that should bring chills to your spine with DL... Com-Air!

There is no upside to this... I'm just glad I have my 1K to fall back on coz that's where this 9 year Platinum Elite will be going if the handwriting on the wall starts to appear...

Note, I havn't said anything about Skyteam losing CO and the loss of all the South American destinations that will cause... but thats for another post.