Northwest flight attendants go retro before assimilation

by Grant Martin on

Rumor in the underground has it that Northwest Airlines‘ flight attendants will be going retro during the last week of March, in a throwback to all of the old Northwest and Northwest Orient garb over the ages. Apparently April 1st marks the first day that staff are required to wear the new Delta uniform, so employees will be digging back into their closets to pull out the vintage gear. And as one of of the airlines with the oldest rank and file of Flight Attendants, I’ll bet that those uniforms go way back.

So which uniforms will come out? Will it be the 1980’s drab brown suits with bow ties and Russian hats? The late seventies, crazy pattern blouses? Or the old school, Northwest Orient red dresses? You can check them all out at uniformfreak.com

Either way,If you’re flying Northwest Airlines over the last week of March, keep your eyes peeled for flight attendants wearing wild vintage uniforms and wish them the best on their new careers at Delta.

Your paltry Delta miles aren’t accepted here

by Grant Martin on

If Delta Skymiles could be equated to a currency, they would be Zimbabwean Dollars.

Over the past several months, numerous changes at the Atlanta based company have brought significant detriment to the joint Delta and Northwest frequent flyer program. These modifications range from an increase in mileage fee for economy tickets (tickets to Europe, for example, went from 50K to 60K miles,) application of fees for award bookings (up to $150,) and the reduction of benefits such as free miles redeposits and system wide upgrades.

There are plenty of small annoyances, but what all of these program changes boil down to is a change in the model in which award tickets are exchanged. Formerly, supply of award miles was lower, availability was higher and the top few passengers who earned numerous miles could spend them fairly easily.

Now, supply is higher, availability is lower and the masses all generally have access to a few scrappy seats. The very few extra that are booked are done so at excruciating costs. So as a result, the airline loses less money on award bookings and gives passengers the false sense of reward with useless miles.
No passenger is in a better perspective to observe the change than he who was a Northwest Worldperks member. Over the last six months, that customer watched his counterparts at Delta reap the benefits of numerous mileage bonus offers, virtually dumping miles into the pockets of passengers and severely diluting the mileage pool.

Meanwhile, program changes continue to cut Worldperks down to the level of Skymiles and defectors leave in droves. At a poll on the frequent flyer website Flyertalk, nearly 30% of passengers queried are leaving the conglomerate to join another airline program, another 20% are leaving at year’s end and 20% are too distraught to know what to do.

Out on the underground mileage exchanges, Delta/Northwest miles have lost their value. Most don’t even bother trying to trade, and one passenger trying to exchange Delta miles for an equal number of competitor miles was laughed at. The best offer so far? A few beverage certificates.

Other tales from the skies
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Passengers protest peanuts, prefer pretzels

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Blame Northwest. Or, blame the merger with Delta. Either way, peanuts are back, and some passengers are pissed.

On February 1, Northwest began dishing out peanuts on flights, which Delta has been doing since dirt was new. The timing isn’t all that hot, given a national salmonella outbreak involving Peanut Corporation of America. And then there are the people who are allergic to peanuts … they’re also far from thrilled with the change.

A commenter on the Star Tribune website (local to Minneapolis, where NWA is headquartered) wrote, “Northwest is really out of touch with its customers and the reality of allergies to peanuts.” Another chimed in, “What’s wrong with pretzels?”

Indeed, what is wrong with pretzels?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3 million people in the United States are allergic to peanuts (or tree nuts). Food allergies cause 30,000 cases of anaphylaxis, 2,000 hospitalizations and 150 deaths every year. On its own, this sucks. On a plane, it’s worse than sitting next to a fat person.

Delta is doing what it can to prevent an in-flight disaster, creating a “buffer zone” of three rows in front of and behind a peanut-allergic person’s seat. And, the airline is advising “cabin service to board additional nonpeanut snacks.” So, flight attendants who are busy with such trivial matters as keeping order on the plane and tending to broader safety issues will have to keep track of the “peanut zone,” as well.

[Via CNN]

What strange things have been found on planes?


Merge your Delta and Northwest frequent flyer accounts — get 500 miles

by Grant Martin on

In this week’s chapter of “Merger Mania, Delta Devours Northwest,” lots of changes have happened to each respective frequent flyer program.

To merge the two programs, small changes in mileage earning, spending and transfer have been implemented, largely to make Northwest’s program emulate Delta. System Wide Upgrades, a feature that many Northwest flyers briefly enjoyed, will now be translated to Medallion Upgrades, a weaker, less useful tool. Northwest Platinum flyers will now earn fewer bonus miles as well; their earnings will be reduced from 125% to 100%.

The most abhorrent change to the programs, however, is the addition of an extra “reward tier” on mileage tickets. As billed, this change is supposed to provide “more flexibility” by charging more miles and providing extra seats when searching for rewards. But in actuality, it’s just another way to gouge passengers.

Think of it this way. Last year, if you wanted to fly from Atlanta to New York there were 10 options to fly for 25k miles. This year, there are 20 options to fly at 30 – 35k miles and 2 options to fly at 25k miles. And those latter flights? Only good on Wednesday redeyes on a 12 seat propeller plane.

It’s not that egregious, but you get the picture.

The (scant) good news is that we now have better, fluid access between both accounts. As of last week, passengers from each program can log in, link accounts and swap miles, which means if you have orphaned miles in either account, you can move them over. Yes, you can move elite miles as well.

You can link the accounts by going under Worldperks | Manage My Account | Link Accounts and Transfer Miles. Once you link them up, you’ll get 500 bonus miles.

If you want to read more about the details of the mergers, a good resource is Flyertalk.

So long, Northwest 747’s

by Grant Martin on


The end of an airline is upon us. While there are still a few wrinkles in th merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines to iron out, things are pretty much set in stone when they start repainting aircraft. To start, Delta, a carrier that has never had the 747 jumbo jet in its livery, will be usurping Northwest’s aircraft and putting them on long haul routes.

You can see the whole process of repainting in the above video.

To many, this is a sad passage of redtail aircraft from the once proud Northwest Airlines into the sad mass of Delta airlines. It’s nostalgic, I suppose, but I’m going miss the NW frequent flyer program more than it’s 747s.