Well, wonder of wonders, Delta and Northwest may have a deal afterall (click here). Mergers can be a pain, but Delta has a strong management team with the skills to pull this off. Now if they can get the employees on the same page, they may be on to something. Time will tell. The fleet of the combined carriers is a bit of a mis-match with Delta being a big Boeing customer while Northwest has been an Airbus buyer. The only common fleet is the 757, with both carriers’ 757 airframes powered by Pratt & Whitney engines.
While I am a fan of Delta Air Lines and their frontline folks, their mileage program leaves a lot to be desired from this blogger’s perspective. I have no experience with Northwest’s WorldPerks program, but I can’t imagine its any worse than SkyMiles. From a service perspective, I haven’t found Northwest to be nearly as bad as they are portrayed to be from an attitude and courtesy perspective, and their customer-facing technology has always been a strong point in my opinion. So these two could make a formidable match. It’s all in the execution. We’ll see what happens.
