Someone sold an acquaintance of mine over a million DL SkyMiles that were redeemed and flown. I thought it a good deal for the seller and the buyer and think there will be a lot more of that going on this year than say last year, most of which will not be flagged by DL. Apparently DL is not the only party to a frequent flyer arrangement that doesn't care too much about burning another bridge.

and how many of those new hires will have the same jobs (or better jobs with "Delta"? a year after the merger takes place?

Bob H

Bob,

I agreee with you, no one knows what will happen, thats pure speculation. But when pbarnette states "... is that everyone at NW knows that WP is going away so they are giving it as little time, effort, money, and thought as possible." thats just completely false.

As someone who listened to what the Managing Director of WP had to say at the Freddies and know some folks at NWA, I can agree with everything thezipper said. Bob was frank in saying that DL is planning to acquire NWA and therefore likely to call the shots, but he updated us on many things that are have been in the works and will be rolled out shortly.

I too hope that Anderson & the merger team take a hard look at the successes of the WP program and decide to bring policies and staff to the merged company... at least one can hope!

I'm willing to guess/hope the Chisholm center and MN HQ for the combined FF program as well as MN based web operations will be part of a final agreement to get merger approval.

Yep. Nothing more than vague assertions or announcements of partnerships that I would have assumed they already had - I'm shocked they weren't already partnered with Avis and Hertz. Otherwise, the big "improvements" he cited are the same ones that DL FFers frequently point to as evidence of "devaluation" - pay with miles and miles for merchandise. And I see none of these as major change, or at least not change for the better.

Look, I'm not the one running around claiming the sky is falling. I'm just saying that, if it is, it isn't because of some nefarious plot by DL to screw over the NW elites, and that any inaction is not the result of some backroom deal.

Wow! You've been thru one merger and are now generalizing from that one experience to posit yourself as the resident expert on the mental mindset of the affected employees.

Some of us actually deal with contacts within NW from time to time. I haven't observed the malaise you describe, and apparently neither has thezipper.

I'm sure that everyone at NW is gung-ho and optimistic about the future. And I'm sure that the managing director of WorldPerks is completely open and honest with everyone he meets at the Freddies. Hooray! Then why is everyone on this board so concerned?

If everyone is so certain that NW is diligently looking out for their customers' interests, then you all have nothing to fear.

And, I'm not certain why you keep up with the snotty remarks. I have my views. You have yours. I don't claim them as fact, and apologize if they come off that way.

But, unless you work there, I am sure you (or thezipper or pretty much anybody on this board) have no more "inside information" than I do, at least not genuinely important inside information. Honestly, you expect me to believe that Soukop or whomever is going to pull some people aside at a public function like the Freddies and give them the "real story"? I assume that Soukop is a decent man. For that reason, I trust that nobody here received any material, non-public information. And since it is not material, I assume that nobody here really "knows" that much more than me.

You are entitled to your opinion for sure, but from my own personal experience if zip says its so when it comes to NW, you can be pretty darned sure that it is so. Our esteemed moderator yields certain jedi mind tricks so I am told on NW folks. Safe travels dear friends!!

That's fine. But I don't really think zip has said much of anything, other than that WP still has employees, and that the official corporate stance is "business as usual." Considering that is all anyone at NW is legally allowed to say doesn't make anyone else skeptical about the claim?

My point all along has been that everyone is ready to assume the best about NW and the worst about DL, and that is likely neither fair nor accurate. There has been no real, hard evidence that NW is looking out for anyone here. Quite the contrary, they have rolled out some of the same "devaluations" that DL has. But hey, everyone "knows" different.

But, amazingly, when I try to offer an alternative explanation for assertions that the reason NW didn't match the whole DL 2xMQM thing is part of some grand plan by DL to protect DL elites at the expense of NW elites, folks look at me like I'm the one with crazy conspiracy theories.

Just to be clear, I am in complete agreement with you that NW's failure to offer 2x eqms is not DL's doing. Would not suggest otherwise. I respect DL, UA and AA for doing this if you look at some of my prior posts on the subject. NW has simply chosen not to do so for whatever reason which more likely than not is that they feel that they do not need to do so. If I were to guess, it probably has something to do with "elite inflation", and it also has to do with SWUs in that they would need to start giving too many of them out. Note I don't necessarily agree with this, and it is only conjecture on my part as is everyone that posits why NW does or does not do something (half the fun around here don't ya think?). Anyway, I appreciate your point of view and understand the logic of your position. I believe that NW has dropped the ball big time on this and may suffer for it, but who knows? YMMV Safe travels Red Tail denizens!!

Well when you come into another forum and post your "views" which are blatently false, you can bet that I will stand up as a member of this forum and voice my opinion. If you can't claim them as fact, then I'd suggest you get some clarification before you post.

Yes, I think idle conjecture is more than half the fun. Glad to know I'm not alone.

You know, I started to think about why NWA hasn't answered DL (and others, but especially DL's) 2x MQM promo and an idea popped into my head. What if NWA is planning on secretly adjusting status levels accordingly come Jan. 1, without awarding the miles? Sort of like when some folks that fell short of their target level, but were then surprised to get credentials in the mail for the level above what they actually earned.

This way the merged SM and WP elite pools are brought back into equilibrium, yet NWA didn't incur the liability that would come with the earned miles, SWU's, bonuses, etc.

It's a theory, anyway. I'd be satisfied with that result, if it came to pass.

A strong second on that. If anyone has a sense for NW moral on this board it is the zipper. If the zipper feels the management team are still egaged and have not thrown in the towel, then I beleive it.

The Zipper knows things....

So sad but true