Delta, Northwest CEOs say expectations on the rise for better travel

BY ELLEN CREAGER

Detroit Free Press

Steenland and Delta CEO Richard Anderson came to the Detroit Free Press editorial offices last week to answer questions about the merger, which must get regulatory approval.

Here's what they said about:

• Frequent flier program: The Delta Sky Miles frequent flier program ''in all likelihood'' will be the surviving program, Anderson said, although details are not worked out. Northwest's WorldPerks miles would transfer to the new program.

The main point, Steenland said, is that ``everybody's miles are good. If you earn miles today, they're going to be good. Irrespective of what it's called, it's basically, everyone gets grandfathered in, everybody preserves what they had, their miles, their elite status, all of those things are just carried forward.''

• Web site: After any merger, there likely would be a quick change to a single Web site. The Northwest site is widely known to be the better of the two, but there are many technical issues to be worked out.

• Customer service: The CEOs vowed service would get better with the merger, even though the airline will be bigger. The goal? ''Safe, clean, on time with bags and with courteous customer service,'' Anderson said. ``And when there is a mistake, you've got to fix that mistake. . . . There is no other way to run an airline.''

• Schedule: No big schedule changes are planned for Detroit Metro post-merger. In fact, Metro may grow, they said, including access for the Detroit market to South American destinations, a Delta strength. The CEOs also said that the merger will help, not hurt, the smaller markets.

• Airfares: Oil prices, not merger plans, are affecting airfares in both large and small markets, they said. Asked about fares on some routes that have skyrocketed into the airsick zone -- $500 to $750 round-trip -- in the last three weeks, they responded that prices on specific routes are a function of how full the flights are.

They said that if oil prices don't moderate, airfares and fees may continue to rise this year. They also may continue to cut capacity for more efficiency.