First of all, I love WorldPerks. And this thread made me rather sad. As a result, I am now going to American AAdvantage forum to see how their program works, I never thought I would even consider AA, but it may have to be the case.

I looked at AA, but ultimately decided against it, though mostly due to scheduling more than anything else. My impression is that, if you can make EXP, then AA is easily the best program.

Pluses:
- Better award availability
- EXPs are treated exceptionally well
- MM status counts all earned miles, not just EQMs/MQMs
- Int'l lounge access at mid-tier
- Lots of partners and redemption options

Minues:
- No elite bonuses on several OW partners
- Upgrade coupons for all below EXP (though some view this is not a big deal)
- No earning or burning (yet) on BA TATL flights
- OW is a minefield of partial credit fares
- 25% elite bonus at lowest tier, 100% bonus at top tier

So.... I guess I have to decide....

I am non-hub. Currently have in the neighborhood of 20-25 flights a day outbound from MSO, on NWA, DL, UA, AS.

I have UA status because I have to fly to Denver. Other than that, I maintained my NW status by flying on NW & AS. Should I switch over to AS at this point? Ideas? Suggestions?

Yep, after researching this, I came to the same conclusion. I fly about 90K a year, so I think it may be a bit of a stretch to get EXP without doing a couple of Mileage Runs. Also, BA/AA situation, and elite bonus absence on some partners is a no go for me. It may the wisest idea to sit this one out and wait for what the new program will be like? I think many of us may be worrying too much too soon.

Yes, switch to AS! Unless you regularly fly a NW route where you can get upgrades, AS is a far superior program for accumulation.

No need for hyperbole - DL is doing this to WP members by their actions, call it unintended consequences, collateral damage or some other description. 2xMQM disadvantages WP members come merger day (or earlier, if reciprocal UGs happen sooner) by stacking the elite merger deck in DL's favor - PM and GM-lites get easy status when WP members are having to earn their BIS status at a 1x rate.

This is fact, not fiction. WP elites are not happy right now, especially considering the larger DL elite pool that existed before the promo started. Combine that with the promo, cut enough capacity post-merger and a GM (GE) will be lucky to ever see an UG. Even many PMs (PEs) will find themselves in Y quite often.

Artificially inflating the elite ranks is bad enough, skewing the results in favor of one merger "partner's" elites is quite another. I stand by my .

Fair enough. But why are you angry at Delta? Shouldn't you be angry at NW? It is the vaunted WorldPerks that is not protecting you, not Delta that is disadvantaging you. NW could have chosen to match this marketing promotion, much as DL competitors UA and AA did. They did not. That is not DL's fault.

Fair question. We NW FT'ers haven't let WP off the hook, but I have a greater issue with DL (and UA, AA) offering "easy-street" EQM promos to begin with. Why offer elite benefits - like UGs - at all when you water down availability by inflating the already-inflated ranks so much with promos that most will never see them, at least on a consistant basis? False promises a carrier cannot keep when 40% or more of the a/c is "elite" - whether UG availability, pre-boarding or whatnot.

I guess I just need to accept that thru February of 2010 I'll be seeing more Y than not on the new Delta.

I don't know about that. For the promo to have a major impact on the elite ranks would require that enough people knew about the promo, cared enough to take advantage, were not bound to booking elsewhere than DL.com, and flew enough to get status. Moreover, for it to have a major impact on upgrade availability, those same people would need to fly enough after they had status to actually take away any upgrades. I'm not convinced that both are going to happen.

With all due respect, I don't know about that. In CLT for instance, DL elites are very plentiful. DL does not have enough seats from my discussions with its GAs here in CLT to accommodate its own ranks as is. Lord only knows, what 2x eqm will do to that. I don't blame DL, AA or UA one iota for running the related promo for whatever reason each may have (including without limitation, making the April to June nos. look better, to recover from negative press, etc). What I find shocking is that NW did not respond in kind, back in 05 when UA shot across the bow with 2x DEQM, NW responded in kind. One would have thought it would have responded in kind as well here. The fact that it has not is quite disappointing (at least to me). NW elites are rightly nervous (both high rev and high mileage flyers) as best as I can tell, and the defections are beginning as others can chime in on. Going to get really interesting over the next little while I think.YMMV Safe travels to all my Red Tail Flying Compatriots!

Alright, a bunch of Elite's sending in TTUs isn't going to yield a whole lot. I would guess executives at NW have a lot more pressing matters on their minds than to deal with the complaints of the FT community at large. In particular when most NW Elites will never really figure it out until well after the merger.

What will get their attention is executives from the fortune 500 companies writing them. When the merger was first announced a collection of execs from Minneapolis wrote an open letter to NW and DL. The jist was "don't mess with our non-stop routes". NW and DL got the message and made public statements in regards to the letter. If you work at one of the following companies I would suggest organizing a letter from your executives sent to CEO Steenland and Chairman Bostock indicating your displeasure with being placed at a disadvantage in the proposed merged airline. Polite, to the point, and firm.

MSP
UnitedHealth Group
Target
Supervalu
Best Buy
Travelers Cos.
3M
U.S. Bancorp
CHS
General Mills
Medtronic
Xcel Energy
Land O'Lakes
Ameriprise Financial
C.H. Robinson Worldwide
Hormel Foods
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Mosaic
Ecolab
Nash-Finch
PepsiAmericas
St. Jude Medical
Alliant Techsystems
Pentair
Valspar
Securian Financial Group
Patterson
Regis
Imation
Fastenal
Donaldson
Toro
Polaris Industries

DTW
General Motors
Ford Motor
Dow Chemical
GMAC
Delphi
Whirlpool
Lear
TRW Automotive Holdings
Penske Automotive Group
Masco
Kellogg
Visteon
DTE Energy
Pulte Homes
ArvinMeritor
Federal-Mogul
Autoliv
CMS Energy
Stryker
Kelly Services
BorgWarner
Auto-Owners Insurance
Borders Group
American Axle & Manufacturing
Steelcase
Universal Forest Products
Cooper-Standard Holdings
Spartan Stores
Valassis Communications
Affinia Group Intermediate Holdings
Hayes Lemmerz
Herman Miller
La-Z-Boy

I fly both and am Gold on both. Each has their plusses and minuses- overall it's pretty much a toss up for me. Met a guy on NW a few weeks ago that absolutely loathed DL- turned out after talking that he had built up over 200,000 miles and decided to dump some of them by selling them. Yes he got caught and lost everything. He blamed DL for giving him the shaft. I asked him if that wasn't like blaming the cop that arrests you for robbing the bank. He found no humor or similarity in my comparison (and was pretty quiet from that point on). THe F/A heard the exchange and got a good laugh though.
I really haven't seen SM going downhill or changing that much personally. If you really feel that is sliding- easy to fix- don't fly them.
You weren't by chance in 1B MSP-SEA Saturday before last were you?

LOL! He'd better be careful and consider burning his remaining WP miles. DL may re-make the connection to past events post-merger and flush his newly transferred account. I wonder if DL still has him on a SM blacklist?

I was thinking about this myself. Is it possible that NW is being told NOT to offer such promotions as part of the preliminary agreement with DL?

Has anyone given thought that NW my have decided not to match this to avoid even further diluting the ranks? From what I've seen the DL promo was very specific a general "double EQM for all". I remember a few years ago when NW offered it to all- everyone screamed "never do that again"- maybe someone listened.