Flights to US

That KLM flight sounds pretty good, but I've never flown with them before. How is the service?

I fly Delta/NWA/KLM almost exclusively.  While I am not a huge fan of Delta, Northwest and KLM are wonderful.  I have never had problems with them and until recently I flew A LOT.  They get two thumbs up from me!

I think BA tends to be pricier than others.

That KLM flight sounds pretty good, but I've never flown with them before. How is the service?

I've flown with them three times in all - MME-AMS-ATL return, MME-AMS-IAD return, and AMS-MME as the fourth leg of a crazy attempt to get back to Teesside after a cancelled connection in Chicago, of all places (when I was flying BMI).  All very pleasant experiences - the food is actually decent (on par with Virgin, who I flew with A LOT during our LDR days!) and the staff is attentive and polite.  Good entertainment options, too, and unlike the US carriers they haven't started charging for baggage or drinks!  I'd definitely recommend them - I'd rather change in Schipol than Heathrow any day!

Also, if you go with them, I find the vegetarian options tend to be better then the meat option.

I love Delta/Northwest and never had a problem but the only thing I recommend is get a World Perks card! I have 20K in miles (thanks to people buying my miles for my birthday) so you can fly half cash and half miles - which is how I am getting there for New Years.

Except, unless things have changed in the last couple of years, you can't get World Perks if you don't live in North America.  I had to transfer all my World Perks miles to Flying Blue (KLM's system).  Seems like something was lost in translation...but, if I ever move back to the US, I can transfer the miles back to World Perks.  At the rate we're going, I'm never going to accumulate enough to use them...

At the rate we're going, I'm never going to accumulate enough to use them...

hee hee if ya ever need to unload them - I am in North America ;-)
I asked for them for my birthday and holidays - don't buy me more stuff give me something I can use! Since AA doesnt allow it

Except, unless things have changed in the last couple of years, you can't get World Perks if you don't live in North America.  I had to transfer all my World Perks miles to Flying Blue (KLM's system).  Seems like something was lost in translation...but, if I ever move back to the US, I can transfer the miles back to World Perks.  At the rate we're going, I'm never going to accumulate enough to use them...

Is not having an American address the problem?  You can use your miles on International flights as I just got a flight from Leeds to Amsterdam with my miles and will be flying on KLM but my miles are with NWA. 

Yep, that's the problem.  I think I figured that out the first time I tried to buy tickets through NWA to fly from Birmingham to Minneapolis and their system kept shunting me to KLM because the address I was using was no longer in the US.  But that's ok - eventually, if we move back to the US, I'll just transfer my miles back to World Perks. 

We've never had a problem flying KLM or NWA (and my first flight on NWA was back in the days when it was known as Northwest Orient!).

Now that NWA is owned by Delta, WorldPerks is going away. I recently saw a notice that effectively said that at a certain date, all WP miles would become Delta Skymiles. I already have Skymiles as my default accumulation bank for all miles anyway, and they had no problem with me moving my address overseas. As long as I keep flying with them, what do they care?

More details than you could ever want: http://www.delta.com/skymiles/about_skymiles/sm_wp_integration_program/index.jsp

Now that NWA is owned by Delta, WorldPerks is going away. I recently saw a notice that effectively said that at a certain date, all WP miles would become Delta Skymiles. I already have Skymiles as my default accumulation bank for all miles anyway, and they had no problem with me moving my address overseas. As long as I keep flying with them, what do they care?

More details than you could ever want: http://www.delta.com/skymiles/about_skymiles/sm_wp_integration_program/index.jsp

Perfect - I linked mine and it actually put them in NWA not Delta - weird as long as they don't "take" them away I will be ok with it...I have over 21K and most of those were gift miles.

You can choose which direction they go.

minmapper - really? why choose if they are going to make them all "one" account.  Now I am nervous to "lose" my miles. I will have to call/research.  If they are linked I am assuming they will put them in the "one" account.

Cross your fingers*

Don't panic. Yet.

Having spent a bit more time reading, it appears that WP is not completely going away, as I previously thought. The timeline, with their deadline of Aug 31 to transfer miles, does seem to indicate that you should be consolidating though. Who knows in reality?

This is entirely above my paygrade. I'm just an email monkey toiling in the dungeons. 

From the FAQ:

What's changing with the Delta SkyMiles and Northwest WorldPerks frequent flyer programs?

First and foremost, your frequent flyer miles are safe and your status is secure. The Delta SkyMiles and Northwest WorldPerks frequent flyer programs are currently being aligned. To stay up-to-date on all program news and get an overview of what's happening in 2009 visit delta.com/integrationtimeline.

The SkyMiles and WorldPerks Programs will eventually be consolidated into one best-in-class loyalty program later in 2009.

Continue to enjoy the benefits of your SkyMiles and/or WorldPerks accounts as you do today. SkyMiles and WorldPerks members may continue to manage their accounts online and earn and redeem miles as usual.

If you have both a SkyMiles and WorldPerks account, you can now transfer your miles between accounts. This service is free and can be used as many times as you like.

Linking your SkyMiles and WorldPerks accounts now will enable automatic consolidation of your account history, including elite qualification balances, when the programs merge.

Awesome thanks for being the monkey on research - you deserve a pay raise!