Do I need to be concerned with DELTA?

[phuang]

I am booked with Delta, do i need to be concerned??? Will there be a strike? My ticket is non-refundable, if ever there will be a strke, what do I do? Please help...

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I have tickets booked with Delta and I am not concerned. I doubt the pilots will go on strike. Right now there is a lot of posturing and bluster from both sides, which is just part of the negotiating process. Like NWA did, I expect Delta to reach a settlement with the pilots and continue flying.

 

[bicker]

It seems very unlikely that something will happen (though to be honest, if I was purchasing tickets now, I would surely avoid buying tickets on Delta, due to the small but significant possibility of a strike/ceasing of operations). My recommendation would be to sit tight, try not to worry about it, but do spend a little thought on "what you would do if" -- have a contingency plan for rescuing your vacation in case the worst does happen.

 

[WeLoveThePoly]

We have tickets on Delta for October (purchased back in early December). I'm not worried about a strike but we do have a contingency plan just in case.

Debbie

 

[CarolA]

I just bought my mother a ticket on DL.

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

I too am in the same waiting boat. So far anything that I have read has stated not to be too concerned about a strike, and that the possiblity is small. We purchased our tickets with Disney, and end the event of a strike I was told that I would have to contact them, and basically start from scratch. We should be able to get our money back, but who knows how much or if we could a new flight. I just hope that everything works out.

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

We've got tickets on Delta for Vegas in May and Disney in August. I'm not going to worry about it either. I can't imagine Delta not flying ( really I don't want to think about my tickets being worthless) so I'm not letting myself worry!

 

[Julia M]

I have tickets on Delta for July. I had no idea all of this was going on, or I would have looked at other airlines first, but truly, I'm not that worried. I think the pilots know it's in their best interest to keep flying.

Julia

 

[paslea_pooh]

We have tickets on Delta for October (purchased back in early December). I'm not worried about a strike but we do have a contingency plan just in case.

Debbie

Hello there Poly... If you don't mind.. what is your plan. I just purchased tickets with delta..Best deal I could get anywhere. Not sure what my back up plan would be, this is a short 5 day trip for me and DH (our 20th wedding anniversary). We've never been anywhere without our kids, except for one night last October. So we are planning on going to F&W festival.. I'm sure we'll have a great time. I think Delta will hold up!!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

We fly on Delta 3/29 and I have a great contingency plan: If anything happens to our outbound/return flights...I will cry.

 

[Bill From PA]

I've been back and forth on this since we returned from our last trip earlier this month. The 330 day purchasing window for our '07 trip opens next month and Delta and USAir are the only 2 viable carriers out of our local airport for the time of day we want to leave. I've been leaning toward USAir, but Delta has a flight that would get us on the ground at MCO 1 1/2 hours earlier than USAir and the price will probably be a little less. Normally I wouldn't risk anything for 90 minutes but we're talking about the difference between 9:30 or 11 pm, and getting to sleep that much earlier would make a big difference in our first day's enjoyment. From what I've learned here, the present conflict will be decided, one way or another, by mid April and my tix go on sale 4/16. I may buy into the theory that the creditors and gov't may decide Delta is too big to be allowed to fail and go with them once the present situation is resolved.

Bill From PA

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Wouldn't your credit card company refund the money if you bought the tickets and the airline could not honor them? I would go ahead and make any future travel plans you want but not lock yourself into any nonrefundable hotel/rental car/etc. charges if you have to cancel due to flight problems.

 

[lauren0309]

Our plan will be Amtrak from New York. The bad thing is our flight is April 17 and they might not strike till the 15th so last minute plans for us!

 

[debster812]

I JUST (literally 90 minutes ago) booked 3 tickets on Delta for February of 2007.

Does it bear watching? Certainly.
Am I slightly concerned? A bit, but not overly so.

I figure if they strike in April, I'll be well within my time limit to dispute the charges with my credit card, and cancel those flights, then I'll have to play the JetBlue or Southwest waiting game.

 

[lauren0309]

I was just told if a contract is thrown out and they go on strike, it will be 30 days before they stop flying so I will be safe.

 

[sara74]

I was just told if a contract is thrown out and they go on strike, it will be 30 days before they stop flying so I will be safe.

Where did you hear this? This would be great news for us as we are leaving on 4/20 and right now I am thinking about how much fun the drive from CT to FL with 2 little ones would be. Who do you think would survive it? Me, DH, or maybe just the 2 kids???

 

[bicker]

Wouldn't your credit card company refund the money if you bought the tickets and the airline could not honor them?

No.

I posted a link in several of the Delta/airline bankrupcy threads to a great website that goes over all of this, in much greater detail (since there are certain limited circumstances where the answer is "Maybe"), but the short answer is "No."

 

[bicker]

Actually, the airline will stop flying as soon as the strike begins. The issue is that there will likely be a 30 day cooling-off period between the time the strike is approved by the union membership and the date at which the strike will be allowed to begin. In the interim, there may, however, be other job actions, ranging from informational picketing to strict rules enforcement.

 

[Bill From PA]

Let's not forget the infamous USAir baggage handler sick-out of Christmas week in 2004 which turned PHL into a luggage graveyard. Two aquaintances of ours hit MCO sans luggage and did an unscheduled 'fashion stop' at Wal-Mart, all that was open at that time, in orded to have clothes and toiletries for their vacation. I understand they didn't get all their stuff back until after they returned to PA. We were scheduled to connect through PHL that New Year's Day via USAir, so I had all the other carriers at PHL on speed dial on my cell and we each had a carry-on with 3 days of stuff. All went well, but you learn to prepare. If Delta gets past this crisis and there's nothing scheduled to hit the fan during or before our March 2007 trip, I'll probably use them, but with reservations, pun intended.

Bill From PA

 

[lauren0309]

I found this on a site about airline strikes:

Understanding Airline Strikes
› A strike can only legally occur after the Labor Relations Board declares an impasse in talks between the airline and the union. Once this occurs, the union must wait 30-days before a strike can be called. As a result, travelers holding tickets for the period immediately following the 30-day cooling off period should review their options.