"Hey, Delta management! We quit! And employees? Thanks for the good service."

That is essentially the message of a three-quarter-page ad taken out in Greater Cincinnati's regional editions of USA Today Wednesday by a group of irate frequent fliers calling themselves Save SkyMiles.

The former Delta customers have been railing against the Atlanta-based carrier about changes in how they qualify for elite "Medallion" status of the SkyMiles program that go into place on Jan. 1. Those changes more directly linked status to the kinds of tickets purchased, with more expensive tickets counting more toward Medallion level.

The coalition paid for the $900 ad through contributions; a similar ad ran in Atlanta versions of the national newspaper last month, signed by "6,500 SkyMiles members."

"I don't know exactly how many people have actually quit, but I know that I have and several hundred others have," said Mike Seidenman, a Fairfield-based salesman who is a founding member of Save SkyMiles. "I just started flying Northwest and I feel great about it."

When asked if Delta were willing to let these customers walk, airline spokesman John Kennedy said he understood some were upset and that "change is received differently by different people.

"We still stand by the changes," Kennedy said.

James Pilcher