Reader Steven writes in:

I’m a silver medallion member of Delta Skymiles, and I’m wondering where things stand with the Northwest merger. The Delta website has pretty vague information. Nwa.com isn’t much better. When will they merge the programs? Will they cut back benefits? Any ideas?

Well, Steven, there is some new information, but we don’t have all the answers.

Delta/Northwest have announced that:

• Delta SkyMiles and Northwest WorldPerks will merge into one program, targeted for the end of 2009. Early 2010 may be more likely.
• By early 2009 (just a few months away!), you should be able to combine miles from the two programs.
• The three elite-status tiers will remain at 25,000, 50,000, and 75,000 qualification miles. Same for both.
• Northwest will follow Delta’s lead and offer international upgrade certificates to top-tier elites.
• The new program will feature three “pricing” tiers for mile redemption, in line with Delta’s watering down of their “SkyChoice” tier last year. Thumbs down here.
• The merged program will allow elite status to be accrued via segments, and not just miles. E.g., fly 30 short segments or fly 25,000 miles, get status. This was the norm for Northwest, but will be new for Delta.

Delta’s merger page is here, with frequent flyer information here. Northwest’s page is here. They are essentially identical, but don’t reflect the information in the post above (yet).

I’ll post updates as they roll out.