According to threads on FlyerTalk and Airliners.net and the most recent schedule on Delta.com, it appears Delta is finally pulling the plug on flights to Panama City from Memphis . Earlier this year, ECP-MEM flights were standing at 3x daily (morning, mid-day, and late afternoon) then down to 2x daily early in the summer (usually a morning and late afternoon), while right now Panama City is down to 1x daily. However, come January 4th, Panama City will lose all service to Memphis. As a result, us Delta flyers will be forced to go through Atlanta to get anywhere. Memphis has always been great to use as a backup for when things got hairy in Atlanta (cue the summer thunderstorms combined with the congestion there) to be rerouted or sometimes it was just more convenient to go through Memphis.
As a reference point, twice this year I’ve flown SEA-MEM before I reached Gold Medallion. On both of those flights I was able to secure a Medallion upgrade as a Silver, with relative ease. Compared with the SEA-ATL flights where you can be quite far down on the upgrade lists, it was a good option. Actually, Seattle is another city that is losing service to Memphis at the start of 2012. Add Moline, Ill to the list (that one ended last month on Labor Day), and I doubt that I’ll be passing through Memphis very often now in the future. It almost makes me want to book one of my next trips through there, if anything, to get one last BBQ meal before the reduction of service happens.
