Jeff Robertson, who runs the Delta Skymiles program, made his latest Flyertalk post yesterday. I tend to think it’s his most useful to date, and for the most part devoid of the usual marketing-speak.

He confirms that Delta Reserve Amex cardholders receive priority within status and fare levels for upgrades.

Delta Reserve customers receive priority upgrade status within tier and fare class. In essence, this means that if two customers who are Platinum both booked an L fare, the Platinum with the Delta Reserve card bumps the Platinum who doesn’t have the card.

That’s a pretty strong reason for Delta elites to get the card.

Meanwhile, he commits to website award booking improvements and predicts easier-to-use international upgrades for top tier elites post-Northwest merger (I’ll be cautiously optimistic and won’t bank on anything major).