USA Today checks in on the Delta-Northwest merger and reports the two airlines are taking their time in hopes of getting it right.
Passenger reviews are mixed so far. One Northwest frequent flier calls it a “nightmare” so far, claiming she bought Delta tickets on Northwest’s website, but Delta had no record of her purchase when she arrived.
The websites and ticket reservation systems won’t be combined until next year, the newspaper reports. Northwest planes are being painted today, but the process of painting and redecorating the entire fleet won’t be complete for several months.
As the merger progresses and the recession drags on, flight schedule cutbacks are likely to continue.
The alleged “benefits” of this merger are practically non-existent, and the history of such mergers is not very good. Who benefits? Certainly not the employees. Not the shareholders (NWA went from bankruptcy to this and the shareholders were wiped out). Not the state, who gave NWA lavish loans, now in doubt. And definately not the flying public with less competition. (I myself had my flight from Palm Springs to MSP on Apr 13 which I bought last June, just cancelled because now Delta/NWA does not want to fly that non-stop route going forward).
Ah yes, there actually were some benficiaries: Those wonderful golden parachutes a few top execs got. My memory recalls a $26 million payoff to departing the departing NWA CEO — the one that took the airline into bankruptcy, then sold out. How could I forget?