Delta Deal Announced

Well Delta made more than $1bn profit in the first quarter of this year, so they must be doing something OK.

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/i ... mbol=DAL.N

Posting from phone so not sure if this has been mentioned : SQ "lost" USD 335m on the deal.

Didn't they write off/down the £600m a couple of years ago so the £ they are getting from DL would be a bonus for then.

I don't kniw about domestic but the TATL I did with DL a couple of years ago was excellent - good food and seat etc which us what it is all about. True no on board bar or treatments in the DL lounge but not everyone uses those anyway.


Personally I'd fly DL again and if I can get some FC miles in the cuture all very well and good but if not its not a deal breaker either.

Posting from phone so not sure if this has been mentioned : SQ "lost" USD 335m on the deal.

Didn't they write off/down the £600m a couple of years ago so the £ they are getting from DL would be a bonus for then.

That they did. I believe they didn't think it would sell, so to grab the amount they did for a fully written off asset is all gravy. Wonder what they will do with the extra funds

Now I know US airlines lounges are a disgrace compared to European and especially UK ones, but it's a lounge nonetheless in many places - more importantly, I wonder how FC and Delta Medallion status will align. Here is the benefits chart from DL.

Would be a huge plus for me, given the amount of domestic flying I do.

Would be a huge plus for me, given the amount of domestic flying I do.

I agree, where VX doesn't fly, DL is soon to be the way to go, in the interim US Airways for the miles and TPs but I envisage that coming to an end soon.

Would be a huge plus for me, given the amount of domestic flying I do.

I agree, where VX doesn't fly, DL is soon to be the way to go, in the interim US Airways for the miles and TPs but I envisage that coming to an end soon.

I read that the merger of US/AA is likely to go full steam ahead now that AA have reached agreement with their pilots.

Reciprocity comes in many shapes and sizes. OW and *A (with which I am pretty familiar) do it differently, of course, and neither usually reciprocates with upgrade benefits. The main reason for the latter is that policies between US and European airlines differ substantially, so if you gave BA golds or LH Senators status to upgrade, it would essentially be a one-way benefit. Since an F seat on a US airline is a different seat and cabin alltogether, and therefore an upgrade is capacity controlled by definition, you can gift upgrades to elites on US airlines. Given the way biz seats are set up with european airlines, the concept makes no sense, so I don't think we'll ever see reciprocity with "internal" upgrades.

What's interesting is that OW will not tag a partner airline's Emerald member with priority tags if flying Y all the way (as I found out on a single leg I had separately booked in Australia last month with QF). Airlines will sometimes do this anyway, but it is not a published benefit. OW airlines will grant their top tier elites access to F lounges where available so as an AA EXP I can use the Qantas F lounges in MEL and SYD, GF at LHR, and all manner of fancy Cathay lounges in HKG. *A does not do this as a rule, and if an airline wants its F pax to access the F lounge of a partner airline they sort of have to pay for this extra, so United 1Ks cannot use any LH/LX F lounges in Europe.

Bottom line, reciprocity can take many different forms. OW airlines have better alignment of status tiers than *A, which allows for some nicer benefit sharing on the lounges side, but they also have some perplexing gaps. *A is a zoo (as you would expect given its greater size and variety of airlines involved) so reciprocity has tended more to a least common denominator approach.

It will be interesting to see whether VS and DL choose to align FF schemes more closely, or share benefits more like *A does.

All this talk about reciprocity for FF programmes, Terminal 2 or 3, Atlanta or Chicago flights is fine and very interesting, but is no one even wondering whether Delta stock limes onboard?

Now I know US airlines lounges are a disgrace compared to European and especially UK ones, but it's a lounge nonetheless in many places - more importantly, I wonder how FC and Delta Medallion status will align. Here is the benefits chart from DL.

All looks very confusing to me All this priority this and that - actually doesn't mean much in reality. On a couple of recent internal US flights (with AA), there were soo many people called to board with this card or that priority. I think we were the only 2 people who fell into 'general boarding' - ie last!

so I don't think we'll ever see reciprocity with "internal" upgrades..

But AF/KL don't offer anything in return for DL elites (ie upgrades) yet delta do offer it for AF/KL...

Here's a really good write up of the whole thing, the background, tentacles, other stuff, and what's good about it!

very interesting. thanks for posting.

VX just announced a codeshare agreement with SQ for certain destinations (I saw this on their Facebook feed)

Here's a really good write up of the whole thing, the background, tentacles, other stuff, and what's good about it!

Best I've read so far! Thanks Slinky

Here's a really good write up of the whole thing, the background, tentacles, other stuff, and what's good about it!

That link is great - have been reading a lot of their articles this evening.

so I don't think we'll ever see reciprocity with "internal" upgrades..

But AF/KL don't offer anything in return for DL elites (ie upgrades) yet delta do offer it for AF/KL...

Fair dues, but IIRC this is only at the airport: good luck with that. On the good side of the ledger, AF was allowing upgrades for Delta pax using systemwides from PE to their biz class, but either they or DL just canned the option this fall; there is hope for VS

I've been pondering whether this will be enough to tear me away from using JetBlue on internal US flights. I've almost exclusively used them in recent years because frankly I think they're excellent. I regularly pay an extra $50ish for 38" leg room, fast track security and priority boarding. The free checked bag and live TV are also things Delta domestic wouldn't offer.

I guess the it depends if the available level of miles/TP's earning on DL may be enough to tempt me.