Buh-Bye Northwest

All the other times people asked about what happens to their frequent flyer miles when something happens to an airline I didn't pay attention, but now with the impending Northwest-Delta merger (or, technically, the acquisition of Northwest by Delta), I need to know.

Looks like, since it's an acquisition and not Northwest folding, I'll get to keep my Worldperks miles and they'll become SkyMiles. I think I'll be ditching my Worldperks Visa. That bastard's got an annual fee and everything and the only reason I kept it was for the miles. Okay, and the credit history. I should probably pay it off. Looks like my best bet is to use up the miles I have on a Northwest flight before the merge is complete because it'll be even harder to use them than it already is after that.

Peter Greenberg talks about what a fraud frequent flier miles are for the consumer and what a profit center they are for the airlines. Makes you not want to bother, but it's hard to ignore that carrot, too. Why not accumulate the miles and just maybe I'll get something for it someday. And if not, I'm no worse off than when I started.

Update: Looks like an American Express card may be in my future. (via)

Okay, wait, is it flyer or flier?

Filed under "That Was Fast!" we have newglobalairline.com. That came out of Delta's press release.

I know this happens all the time, but it's still weird to me because I've never not lived in a Northwest hub city. At least from Detroit you can fly Southwest, unlike here. Don't know if that situation will actually change in Minneapolis but whatever. We're going from one dominating mega carrier to another. Meh. The promises are that MSP will remain as a hub and, more importantly, that some executive offices will still be located here. Can't say the same for Detroit. Sorry, DTW.