mike101

It's not a merger.. Delta is taking over NWA.. does anyone see any trait/characteristic etc in NWA that is going to make it through with the combined airline?

From the brand name, to the airline set up, to the logo, to the uniforms, to the credit card (American Express), to the debit card (choosing SunTrust instead of USBank), to the name of the new longue (SkyClub), to the name of the FF Program, to the website..... etc..

Apparently Delta is practically staying the same.. while nothing about NWA is going to survive

Is this a merger or a takeover? I hardly call this a merger.. why did NWA even allow this, I miss my old airline... too bad I made platinum this year, I guess I'll be spending 2010 using up all my miles as I shop for another airline for 2011 Elite status

zsmith2

Us Delta people, and employees, could argue that NWA has taken over Delta. You would be amazed of how much NWA lives inside the Delta name.

davetravels

Choosing Coke over of Pepsi!!

PIT has always been a Pepsi preferred town! My cousin works for Coke @ the HQ in Downtown ATL - but still has Pepsi in the fridge at home!

Agreed that it's DEF NOT a merger - - It's a takeover!!

mike101

Well I guess as a Delta employee you see some integration in management, policies, etc.. however as customers it is arguable that we don't see that and the way your bosses are marketing this new airline is purely as an expanded Delta..

indufan

It's a takeover but only slightly so. I think it's about 55% Delta. Otherwise, I don't get the big deal about what something is called. Remember America West took over US Air but the name continued to be US Air, which personally I think was a mistake.

thebigfish

This is not the first time I've heard people inside say this. One was a longtime station manager at a big airport out west was passonate about how much impact NW was having. I hear a lot of yelling and b*tching about this and that, but all things considered, I think people will be surprised when it's all said and done. If they can pull this off without the whole thing tanking, it would be impressive.

Michael

bdnyc

That's the best kind of takeover - the "stealth" takeover. Bet ya didn't see it coming.

Hopefully the NW folks have something good to offer.

Anyway, I'm sure we all want "best of both." (I know, sounds like the company line.) This merger is a massive thing and now that it's underway we all should want the new company to succeed.

It's not the name of the company that matters, it's the great people working there that keep us flying.

n7371f

Very well may be...and I've heard the same from certain places. But as a very frequent flier of Northwest for years - you can only argue that Delta has taken over NWA.

thepointsguy

Why would they keep the NWA logo/ set up/ uniform/ credit card/ FF program name? Do you think that it would be smart to have the airline called Delta, but the FF program called NW Worldperks? Don't you think that would be confusing from a branding perspective?

PS Skyclub is a new name. It used to be called the Crown Room Club.

mike101

Oh common, I know you're better than that. I am guessing you see so many things that have changed in Delta since the merger... till the very last detail of selecting which credit card provider to chose, Delta has gotten it's way and has ended anything and everything Northwest..

As far are you're argument about the FF being called NorthWest WorldPerks, I am sorry but is that a joke on your part? How about Delta WorldPerks?

ResSalesGuy

I agree...from the NW perspective its more like NW with a new HDQ in Atlanta.....with a computer system and platform like we had about 10 yrs ago... I dont mean this as a slam to DL frontline at all, just to the IT team...Seriously, how can you do this job with the computer platform they force you to use? Other than a lack of technology, the other pieces are all falling into place...Unfortunately, I see the DL culture that their employees were so proud of, slipping away into the Sunset....You cant combine 2 completely different companies and expect that nothing will change...NW and DL serve different types of customers and the people at both AL have major differences that will never go away....Mgmt is completely ignorant if they think they can combine everyone and expect that there won't be differences ....I still work with "Republic Employees" and thats still their identity......

sbagdon

NW was purchased by DL, and NW is currently a wholely owned subsidiary of DL. Presumably, this is to deal with the legalities of the operating certificate, and the wholely owned subsidiary named "NW" will disolve when a single operating certificate is approved.

The rest is marketing and perception.

kersie

I found myself wondering today what the Delta website would look like after the merger. I find that there are a lot of things that make the NW website easy to search (if sometimes error prone and giving different fares depending on the search methodology). I have always found Delta's website clunky, and the thought of having to call somebody at Delta to sort out booking problems makes me shudder.

raehl311

I attempted to book award travel on the DL website today to make sure I didn't come up with better options.

What a waste of time.

It is impossible to search all flights and see all pricing. If you search by price, many of the flights don't even show up on the list. And if you search by schedule, there is no way to see the price until you complete the search. On top of that, it's also impossible to book coach one way and F the other.

Unfortunately it appears that for a good 10 to 15 years DL's IT was run by imbeciles, and now it's too late to undo. Although apparently DL is still too dumb to realize that the costs of training more DL employees on the NW system are small compared to having everyone try and use the inefficient DL system.