Delta continued to enter into interline agreements with a number of other airlines. The re-establishment agreement is as necessary for both parties as it is for DL and UA, and it goes without saying that the prices and conditions reflect what DL and UA also have. The claim that DL gave in without being able to produce any real details is simply imprecise. Yes – only two years to recover half a loaf! This is one area where state regulation could make a big difference: the mandate of airlines to have this type of agreement for IROPS. JetBlue, southwest. Everybody. And with e-ticketing, no one can claim that this is not technically possible. An interline agreement simply allows you to sell tickets for multiple airlines and allows one airline to reassign you to another airline in case of irregular operation. Delta considers itself the “point machine” and, having better operational performance than other U.S. airlines, they decided they didn`t need to help other airlines if something went wrong.

What`s ironic is that Delta has experienced some of the biggest operational collapses of any U.S. airline in recent years, and they`ve really screwed up their customers with the lack of an interline agreement because they couldn`t change airlines. It`s DL Plat. In the last three months of 2017, I had two uns scheduled nights due to irregular delta operations. In both cases, American had flights that would have brought me to my destination the same day. The second time I paid for the ticket on American alone, I called Delta the next day and got it to pay me back. In both cases, I let everyone I spoke to let it be a shame that they didn`t have an interline agreement with American. What is the inversion of the phrase “eat a crow”? A few years ago, I consulted an anonymous airline.

It is called “blue”. Blue`s CEO worked for “Red,” but he was ignored for the best job at Red, which made him very sad. Soon after, he went to work for Blue and his sadness turned into bitterness. The CEOs of Blue and Red were certainly not friends at that time. In fact, the entire culture of Blue was based on red and with an aggressive competition style. In the meantime, Red has fared quite well and is the dominant player in the market. At Blue, this anti-red dogma has imposed itself even on the accommodation of passengers. Blue and Red have terminated all official agreements between them, including interline ticketing, luggage and accommodation. This inevitably had an impact on customers in both blue and red, all for the wounded ego of a leader who was offended.

If Blue had a cancellation, customers would have to wait for the next blue service, sometimes for many hours or even overnight. While CEOs were mired in their dislike for one another, their customers were paying the price. When I arrived at Blue and learned of this situation, I begged her to carefully consider a bilateral agreement to take over and accept each other`s customers, at least during the disruptions. This has been treated with something that can only be described as stone walls. Unanswered emails, questions on the left, etc. The “consultative” part of my work was futile because they categorically rejected any proposal involving an agreement. All this was done to the detriment of the traveling customer, both for Blue`s customers and for Red. However (and this is a BIG “ABER”), blue still needed red in difficult times. Similarly, red needed blue on occasion. At the airport, Blue would still kill passengers under the radar in Red.

In practice, this meant that Blue would pay for the customer`s new tickets on Red in times of extreme distress. However, the process was chaotic; This was a combination of local gentlemen`s agreements on fares and baggage acceptance, as well as back-office billing and billing. It was ugly, to say the least. Blue finally capitulated and confessed to my company and me that it needed a slimmer, technical solution to adapt red, but there was no way in hell that they would one day engage in an interline agreement in an official way. . . .