After one of the worst flying experiences I have ever had on Delta Air Lines, I have decided to declare my frequent flyer free agency. I won't bore you with the details but the experience which included my entire family demonstrates the indifference and what seemed like outright disdain for its passengers by this airline giant. I use to live in Atlanta, my wife use to work in Delta's flight operations group, and my brand loyalty was always to Delta above all others. That has now changed and the only reason I will even think about flying them again is due to the efforts of a single flight attendant on our flight back to Seattle from Atlanta.
So, I am up for grabs and interested in looking at new teams to join. Here are my stats:
- Well over 1 million miles logged with 80+% of those on Delta Air Lines over the years.
- Extensive travel in North America, a concentrated period to the UK a few years back, and a few flights to Asia over the years
- Cheap but not real cheap – I'll buy the discount ticket but have been
known to pay for wifi, club room access, and the occasional upgrade
(when it is reasonable)
Pretty low maintenance as long as there is a spot for my highly
optimized and very small carry on bag and the frequency of center seat
assignments is kept at a minimum.- I do not expect or feel entitled to
an upgrade but rarely turn it down when offered. - I am very experienced and efficient at getting on and off the plane quickly without disrupting other passengers or delaying departure.
I have spent trial periods with United, Alaska Airlines, US Airways, and American but have never signed on due to bad experience, lack of status, or routing. Current favorite is Virgin America but they do not meet all my destination criteria. I have also spent some time with ANA, British Airways, Southwest and Frontier (although the latter two may be the same team here shortly) over the years and have had generally good experiences.
Interested in having me try out for your team? Leave a comment or shoot me an email.
Venture Vice 
Robert –
With 2.5 Million+ on many airlines, nationally and internationally, I would submit the following.
Likely no one airline is going to do it for you. Fact of life being in Seattle. Take a long look at Alaska Airlines. They are taking over more routes left by the bigger carriers. Plus being that much smaller, have good access to various partner airlines.
I would avoid United. They are a classic business school case on how not to “employee run” a company.
You may also want to try contacting the airline of choice with your Delta status to get a trial MVP/Gold/Someone Important/Guy With A Face status. In the past, this has worked with just about every major airline except American. You many be able to parlay your Delta status to MVP on Alaska, for example.
That said, I have nearly 2 Million miles on American alone. In the past, they have had the best routing for my business travels. My experiences have been good to great; however, I have been dismayed that they have shut down many routes from Seattle over the past few years.
Many thanks for the “Read Worthy” shout outs.
Max
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