Talk about spin. Come on. That is what the whole Skyteam alliance was for - more flight scheduling choices, greater ability to earn and redeem WP miles around the world, seamless one-stop check in and baggage check, etc. DL and NW didn't need a merger for any of this.

With all due respect, it seems to me like NWScoop has degenerated into a DL Insider type person - read his posts on the DL forum and you will immediately see what I mean.

John

We're being told hub service will be maintained while this morning Anderson said one of the first things to go from MSP will be the 747s.

This NW scoop sounds a little more like the PR email we got the other night:

also

and

As a matter of fact, some variation of the word "enhance" appears 18 times on the FAQ page of the newglobalairline website.

Remember when NW Scoop left "he" said that the avatar would not be person-specific but rather the mouthpiece of the company. Voila.

Substitute the word 'enhance(d)' with 'dimish(ed)' and it's more fun (and maybe realistic) reading.

In fairness to Bob Soukup & his staff, I doubt they've had time even to digest what's been said, let alone compose any real responses.

Take the PR pieces with a grain of salt, and don't ascribe too high a value (maybe a couple SkyMiles) to the paper they're printed on.

Wrong. It is serial-person-specific but may also be used at any time at Bob Soukup's direction. A new NW-Scoop-designee does exist but is still on training wheels. This probably a bad time to learn how to ride.

Hanging out with Santa and his favorite reindeer must be rubbing off on you.

If you believe that in the period when Scoop coincidentally left to work on something really, really big that they have been working on much of anything else except the merger and how to personally position themselves and their organization to survive while prepping the pre-digested official spin (& official silence) during the last months, then you have more faith than I have.

And all frequent flyers know the real translation of ''enhanced'' now don't we?

Scoop,

I haven't found an authoritative answer yet on whether the combined airline will honor lifetime WorldClub memberships. Are you able to comment on that? I do plan to talk to the staff at my home WorldClub next week, but if I can get an answer from "higher up" before then, it'd be very helpful.

Thanks!

AFAIK, only a bankruptcy relieves a company of its obligation to honor existing contractual commitments. This is an acquisition, not a bankruptcy.

Interesting that you say that because during this morning's news conference they talked about how 757s, 767s, 777s and 787s will play a role in the combined company's future but left out any reference to 747s. When was this mentioned about 747s leaving MSP and will they still be a part of the fleet plan for the future?

What was Said:

What wasn't said:
After the merger closes, WorldPerks won't change, it will be discontinued (IMHO) Hopefully SkyMiles adapts to pick up the "best of both" vs stay the same, somehow, I doubt it.

CNBC said this morning that MEM may grow. At first it did not make sense too me until I landed in GNV( gainesville, fl) NWA cut service MEM GNV a year ago. DL can not grow ATL, with flights to GNV. So they could off load some domstic connections to MEM to add more international flights via ATL. Switch 2 of 5 flights to MEM and ATL has lots of room to grow, and MEM gets bigger. Only issue is MEM gets lots of RJs and flights to smaller cities.

The 747s are primarily used on routes that nothing else Northwest has can handle nonstop. NRT-LAX, NRT-MSP, NRT-DTW. 13+ hour flights, I would say. If an A330 can do it, an A330 does it. (And better yet, if a 757 can do it...

Delta has 8 777-200ER's with a maximum range almost identical to that of the 744 - about 8000 miles with a little fuel left, on a good day.

The 787's Northwest is awaiting will theoretically be able to do routes of over 9000 miles one-way. And the 777-200LR's Delta has started taking delivery of are supposedly capable of close to 10000 miles one way.

In 2010-2011, I would expect to see those twinjets start taking over routes where the 744 doesn't make sense, either because of load, or fuel. But if there's a route that consistently runs high load, and fares aren't forced down, a 744 might still work.

Isn't every flight to MEM a flight to a "smaller city?"