Thread: Delta/Northwest Merger

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ColoAvs19 @ Jan 14 2009, 10:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I was thinking in Jul or Aug about taking DL MDT-ATL-LAX-SYD QF SYD-JNB SA JNB-CPT-JNB DL JNB-ATL-MDT. Need to save up for that though.[/b]

Now that is quite a trip... SA and QF both also fly PER-JNB (i think) if you get in a bind. Something makes me remember payload restrictions around this time though?

Save your pennies...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumper @ Jan 14 2009, 01:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I heard today that the New delta is going to instigate the NW "buddy pass&#39; rules" where our Buddies have to fly with us or what not - PLEASE tell me this isn&#39;t true!!! The rare occasions I give out buddy passes, my companions do NOT need a BABY SITTER![/b]

Oh, I hope not!! That&#39;s how DL&#39;s rules were previously. It&#39;s bad enough that we&#39;re responsible for their behavior when they&#39;re flying......I don&#39;t need to travel with them, that&#39;s for sure.

I probably wouldn&#39;t give as many away under those conditions, either. Not alot of flexibility, there.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hub & Spoke @ Jan 14 2009, 08:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I&#39;m sure everything is being looked at, but trust me as an NW employee myself and others don&#39;t like some of your (DL) non-rev rules. So it will all balance out in the long run.

As far as NW and buddy passes, companion pass as we call it, they can go alone, but at a lower priority. So there still is a way.[/b]

In our case, the buddy passes can&#39;t upgrade their priority, but we could downgrade our priority to fly with them. Kinda dumb, huh?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mayor @ Jan 14 2009, 11:51 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

In our case, the buddy passes can&#39;t upgrade their priority, but we could downgrade our priority to fly with them. Kinda dumb, huh?[/b]

Just a little -

What I hate is the idea that with NW, with the exception of our RTC (and only if you&#39;re not married) they have to either fly with you or meet you someplace. The fares are getting prohibitively expensive (once we priced out a &#39;pass&#39; and it turned out to be more expensive than a regular CONFIRMED seat!)

Sometimes I swear I get what those milage users are whinging about - &#39;what good are they&#39; ?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumper @ Jan 14 2009, 10:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Just a little -

What I hate is the idea that with NW, with the exception of our RTC (and only if you&#39;re not married) they have to either fly with you or meet you someplace. The fares are getting prohibitively expensive (once we priced out a &#39;pass&#39; and it turned out to be more expensive than a regular CONFIRMED seat!)

Sometimes I swear I get what those milage users are whinging about - &#39;what good are they&#39; ?[/b]

That&#39;s how it used to be with our vacation passes (S-2&#39;s) The person using the S-2 with you had to travel with the employee at some point. When they changed S-2&#39;s to just priority passes, usable any time of year, that was changed also. Obviously, the vacation passes were limited to the number of weeks vacation you had coming. Now, as priority passes, you get 6 per year (not retirees).

@Jumper: One other option for unaccompanied "companions" is flying to/from your home base (or an airport within 85 miles). Not as nice as Delta, from the sounds of it, but my gate agent in Toronto commented on it being generous. To each their own.

So, to you DL folks out there, I&#39;m wondering what I can hope for in terms of benefits. I come from the NW world, and know their rules pretty well. Now, I&#39;m (hopefully) going to be making a grand return to Mesaba (XJ), a regional carrier for NW. I left just before the merger was official, so I never got a chance to study DL&#39;s rules. I know they won&#39;t necessarily be passed down, but I&#39;d like to know what to expect as a best- (or worst-) case scenario. Mainly, how do Delta&#39;s companion fares work, exactly? Approximate fares? Most of my travel with others would probably be with my girlfriend.

Also, same bit (mostly about fares) goes for parents of DL employees. Any charges there? I go to school in Wisconsin, and if my parents could fly over for lunch every now and then from MSP, that&#39;d be amazing. Probably not worth the ~$80RT it was with NW, if I remember right, however.

G&#39;day Spongebue, Under DL&#39;s current pass policy, they could visit for lunch. The approximate cost would be....$0.00. Parents recieve 18 free flight days. A flight day is a calendar day. It does stink when you say, take a redeye from LAS-ATL-wherever, because you started yesterday and used 2 days when it&#39;s done. But 18 for totally free. If you have a spouse or travel companion, then parents pay a $75 service charge plus taxes/fees across an ocean. If you don&#39;t, they just pay international taxes like you. I took my mother to IST in Nov, cost about $50 total, Business Elite both ways.

Spouse is free and unlimited, and gets 6 priority flight days. Same benefits as emp. Travel companion gets the same priority and 6 priority flight days, but has to pay a yield fare. Taxes included it usually works out to about 5 Cents a mile. So JFK-ATL would be like $75 r/t. DL allows a same sex domestic partner to get spousal benefits, but not an opposite sex domestic partner.

And DL always fills every F/J seat before they put a single nonrev in Y(except W/B issues).

I really enjoy DL&#39;s benefits and hope they don&#39;t change it too much.

As of right now, buddy passes don&#39;t need accompanied, but I always do, for their first time nonreving anyway.

Impressive... hopefully that will be the prevailing policy once things get evened out. Thanks a lot. Any limits to the number of buddy passes that can be used?

Oh, and I ran into your blog, was reading that. I&#39;m pretty damn impressed, I gotta say. I was known as "the crazy guy that flies all over the place" but you... you have me beat. Best I did was HNL with the girlfriend. Which, in summer, is no small feat (baaaarely got the last seat after overnighting in SEA) but wow... you really hit those international places up.

Thanks again

Edit: Say, is there anything in place for when parents use up the 18 days? Can they still fly with a yield fare?