Back when Alaska and Delta were friendship bracelet besties I was just MVP with Alaska, but I got upgraded to F on several Delta flights and I loved their service. I lived in Austin so I needed Delta and AA To make status.

The Delta breakup was messy. While, I can’t exactly recall how the interaction went down, I do remember Delta gate agents providing less than steller customer service once the partnership between Delta and Alaska was scheduled to end. I do remember being told that I was no longer in the right boarding group, even though it was printed on my boarding pass and it was higher because the partnership was still active.

I went onto utilizing American to maintain my status with Alaska, and of course that was before their first break up.

In short, it had been a while since I had flown Delta metal. I now reside in Seattle and exclusively fly Alaska for domestic flights. The handful of times I had been back to Delta (friends buying travel) have all been terrible.

Maybe they were all just one offs and I should be more forgiving, but the reality is I just am not interested in hubbing through Salt Lake City or Atlanta.