Five reasons to be happy about the Delta / Northwest merger

by Grant Martin on

Most passengers I’ve talked to in the Northwest and Delta communities have been pretty gloomy about the merger of the two airlines. Many see it as an excuse to cut out the best aspects of either airline and merge all of the cost-saving and sloppy parts together, from the old aircraft to frequent flier benefits to business lounges in the airport.

What’s done is done however, and we now need to start looking forward to a new global airline with new marketing, strategies and attitudes towards customer service. With that in mind, Gadling has put together the The top five reasons to be happy about the Delta and Northwest Merger

  1. More routes: With the combined volume or routes between the two airlines it should be easier to get from point A to point B on one airline, check your luggage straight through and deal with one customer service line.
  2. Better award availability: For those of us who do invest in frequent flier mile programs, it will also be easier to cash in our miles on the larger volume of available routes — without changing carriers.
  3. In-flight entertainment: Many of Delta’s domestic aircraft are outfitted with in-seat LCD screens. For those of you without a laptop or book on the plane, this can be a lifesaver for longer flights. Hopefully they’ll start upgrading the NW fleet as well.
  4. Reciprocal upgrades: It used to be that elite members from one carrier carrier didn’t get upgrades into first class on the other. With all aircraft now flying under the same banner, NW passengers can expect upgrades out of Cincinnati and Atlanta while DL passengers can get the same out of Memphis, Detroit or Minneapolis.
  5. Northwest flight attendants will now get to wear nifty red hats!

Don’t get me wrong either — there’s plenty to complain about in the merger, especially as we all consider the future of our miles and investments in each airline. These pros are but a silver lining as the merger clouds begin to form. Get ready for a storm.

What does the NWA & Delta merger mean for passengers?

by Grant Martin on

The news, so to speak, is inevitable, as last night’s news and this morning’s press conference are confirming: Delta and Northwest Airlines are to merge. Together they will form the world’s largest airline capable of moving more passengers to more corners of the globe in fewer steps — so they say.

What does this mean for the current passenger of each respective airline? As far as routes and operations, not much will immediately change. It will take 6-8 months to iron out the details of the operation, during which the airlines will continue to operate independently. Afterwards, corporate says they’ll be keeping all of the hubs between the two cities, keeping all of the small local routes and maintaining all of the operations that you now hold dear.

Whether or not that is true is another question — the two airlines would have seven hubs in North America with six east of the Mississippi and five in a pretty straight line between Atlanta and Minneapolis. That doesn’t seem like a great way to geographically approach a hub and spoke system.

Regardless, all routes and schedules are guaranteed, so if you have or want to book a ticket now, go ahead — you’re in no danger of losing it. Indeed there are only a few overlapping routes between the two airlines, so it’s pretty unlikely that they’ll mess with any of your flights; if they do, they’ll rebook you on Delta and you’ll be fine.

For now, both carriers claim that their mileage programs and miles will remain in tact. Multiple press releases, corporate words and their new special website repeat this and I believe this true to the point that your miles won’t be erased. What they could do, however, is screw with the quality of the miles — after all, each mileage program is set up with different milestones and redemption levels — one is going to have to adopt the other’s policy.

Naturally, the airlines want you to believe that Your Favorite Hub and Your Special Miles are going to be safe in the merger. If you cash in your miles that’s money out of the bank and if you lose faith in your hub your business is going to go elsewhere. So don’t plan on them telling you anything that’s really going to happen any time soon.

If you want to play it safe, I would use some of those miles right now and start shopping around for tickets. It’s not too difficult to redeposit your miles if you decide you want to keep them and in the mean time they’re in a safe place (invested in your vacation). And if you really really don’t know what to do with your miles, leave a comment below and I’ll tell you how to get rid of them. Trust me, you don’t want to waste your 100k miles on 70 years of Newsweek subscriptions yet.

It’s official: Delta and Northwest to merge

by Kent Wien on

According to a report by CNN tonight, Delta has announced it’s long rumored merger with Northwest has been approved by both airlines. This merger was supposed to happen months ago, but the airlines were holding out on an announcement until the pilot groups at each company could come to a seniority agreement. The pilots, both represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, were unable to negotiate a mutually agreeable seniority list. The airlines were trying to avoid the acrimonious situation that currently exists between the USAirways and former America West pilots that is threatening the combined airline.

The Delta name and Atlanta headquarters will be kept, and Delta will become the world’s largest airline, a position held previously by American Airlines. Delta is hoping that a quick resolution to their pilot contract, which would eventually apply to both pilot groups, might make the merger a success.

Northwest Airlines hold a ‘golden share’ in Continental Airlines which has prevented Continental from seeking their own merger. Any deal involving Northwest would allow Continental to be freed from any veto power that Northwest has. Look for a possible Continental and United announcement shortly.

Update: Delta and Northwest have already launched a site with details of their plan for world domination.

Flying to Europe? Try this NWA 20% off code

by Grant Martin on

In case you still haven’t booked your springtime Europe travel, now might be a good time to do it. Northwest Airlines just published a discount code for 20% off all Europe bound flights in April.

You have to be a NWA frequent flyer in order to cash in on the deal — but it’s fairly easy to get a free number on the website. After that you have to plug in that frequent flyer number plus the reference code PR029 into the E-Cert option on the booking page in order to activate the discount.

No word on whether Northwest Airlines will still be Northwest Airlines by springtime with all of this merger talk, but you don’t have to worry about that. Whether NWA gets bought out by Delta, United, Dubai or Beijing, they’ll still fulfill their obligation for all flights reserved.

Travel must be booked by March 3rd and take place between April 6th and 20th.

Time to start burning those Northwest Airlines miles

by Grant Martin on

All of the buzz in the underground is that Delta and Northwest Airlines are seconds away from a merger. As speculation swirls around who’s going to come out on top, who’s going to be laid off and whose aircraft are going to be rebadged, an interesting conversation about frequent flyer miles has emerged.

What happens to the frequent flyer programs when two airlines merge? The worst case scenario is that the airline on top squishes the smaller carrier and that those miles turn to zero. In this case, that would be Delta usurping Northwest’s program. And that’s got passengers scared pink about the future of their accounts. Some have been hoarding miles for years in a 401k nest-egg type of fashion, thinking they’ll travel the globe for free as they hit their golden years. What will they do if their balance turns to dust?

The notion of total-loss to many frequent flyers has them scrambling to put the miles to use. Since award tickets are refundable, many are booking tickets far into the future that they may refund after the merger. Others are buying tickets for friends, family and strangers, while expunging the remaining balance on piles of magazine subscriptions.

What am I going to do with mine? I’m currently sitting on top of enough miles to book a ticket to Europe. Part of me wants to sponsor a contest on Gadling for a free ticket, while another part wants to just book a ticket to Munich for Oktoberfest. Either way, I’m not hopeful about the future of Northwest’s Worldperks program.