Delta drafts merger plans for frequent flier programs

Attention, Northwest WorldPerks members: The frequent flier programs at Delta and Northwest Airlines will be blended into one program by the end of 2009.

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines' SkyMiles plan and Northwest's WorldPerks plan will be altered in the coming weeks so they'll be nearly identical while the two operate separately in the early stages of the Delta-Northwest merger.

"If you look at the two programs as they sit today, they are 95 percent similar," said Jeff Robertson, Delta vice president of loyalty programs. "We are each going to make some program changes to each other's programs to get them to be 99 percent the same."

For the highest-volume travelers, Delta and Northwest both require that passengers fly 25,000 miles in a year to qualify for silver-elite status. Both set the bar for gold elites at 50,000 miles and platinum elites at 75,000. Elite status is particularly important to business travelers because elites get first-class upgrades, priority boarding and other benefits.

Northwest's program includes a second way of qualifying for elite status for those passengers who fly frequently, but on shorter flights. For example, a Northwest passenger can achieve gold elite status by being a passenger on 60 flight segments in a given year. Delta is expected to add a flight-segment qualifier to its elite status program that would take effect Jan. 1 of next year.

In Delta's program, customers who fly at least 75,000 miles a year qualify for "platinum medallion status." Those customers are awarded six certificates that can be redeemed for upgrades on most Delta flights flown worldwide. To allow Northwest's program to more closely mirror Delta's, Northwest is expected to add the annual upgrade certificates for its platinum customers.

"Since the merger was announced, we have been working to synchronize the two loyalty programs," said Bob Soukup, managing director of WorldPerks marketing at Northwest. The two carriers intend to make an announcement soon about their 2009 program changes.

"It will definitely include three award prices for both WorldPerks and SkyMiles customers as well as aligned program rules and fees," Soukup said.

In a recent joint interview, Robertson and Soukup did not specify the miles they'll both require. But in mid-October, Delta shifted from a two-tier to a three-level award program. On round-trip tickets, Delta customers now redeem miles in tiers starting at 25,000, 40,000 and 60,000 miles instead of the 25,000 and 50,000 dual level it had been using.

Atlanta-based Delta acquired Northwest on Oct. 29, but it will take up to two years to fully merge both carriers' operations.

The frequent flier programs also are marching toward one program over time.

Keeping your miles

Northwest WorldPerks miles will be converted on a one-for-one basis and absorbed into the merged program, and Soukup emphasized that "WorldPerks members will not lose miles."

Early next year, the two carriers will make it possible for customers who have both WorldPerks and SkyMiles accounts to transfer miles between programs, Soukup said.

"There could be WorldPerks members that live in Minneapolis that have tons of miles in their account, and yet they also have a SkyMiles account that's been out there for a while and they have some miles there and they just want to bring them together," Robertson said. "We will allow them to do that."

Peter Robinson, a retired businessman from Chaska, is someone who wants to blend his miles.

"We have enough between the Northwest account and our Delta account that if they were added together we'd have a free ticket," said Robinson, who used to travel frequently when he worked for Honeywell.

He and his wife, Sharon, traveled this year for pleasure to Egypt. The couple flew on Northwest and Egypt Air to get from Minnesota to Cairo, and then traveled on Air France and Delta on the trip home.

Robinson has enjoyed the benefits of Northwest's frequent flier program, and he redeemed lots of miles for Asian travel around the time of his retirement.

"We took a trip to Japan, China and Hong Kong and we went first-class on Northwest all the way," recalled Robinson about his award ticket travel.

Airlines compete for passengers on ticket prices and schedules, but they also try to gain advantages by how they structure their frequent flier programs. Delta CEO Richard Anderson, who now leads the world's largest airline, said he wants the new Delta to create a "best-in-breed" frequent flier program.

During 2009, Robertson said that Delta will announce a new elite program that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2010.

"There will be new sets of benefits and new elite qualification parameters," he said, adding that it will be "tailored to the customer needs of the combined airline."

The contents of that new program will be kept under wraps during much of next year as Delta and Northwest work toward blending the SkyMiles and WorldPerks programs.

Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709