SW or Delta

[blessedby3]

Oh I am so confused! I have been waiting and watching the ding fares, but still have not come out for my dates of 11/25-12/03. The dates are still thru 11/17. I dont know if they will post ding fares for the day after Thanksgiving or not. I found a great deal on Delta for $116.90 round trip for my dates, but my mom says Delta is possibly going bankrupt. What would happen if I got tickets from Delta and then something happened with the airline? I would rather get a ding fare of $39 or $49 from SW, but dont know if that will happen. Does anyone have any wisdom on this subject? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[brentalex]

Going bankrupt does not mean going out of business. It means that they are working on trying to pay off their debts. Delta will still be in business and still flying. It is possible that some flights could get cancelled, and combined with others. But if you have a ticket then you will still fly. I bought tickets on Song, from Boston to Orlando for next April. I am not concerned that Delta/Song will not be around.

 

[stage manager]

I would suggest going ahead and purchasing the Delta fare. Delta is headed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, that won't stop them from flying. They will honor all tickets and reorganize their labor contracts to try and make them more solvent. United and US Airways have been operating under Chapter 11 for years.

The dings I have been seeing lately aren't getting much better than what you've got. 116 is 58 each way including various taxes. That's a deal. I say grab it and go.

 

[beccasmom]

My advice is book with Delta. USAirways is gradually working out of bankruptcy and still flying, If you're really concerned, be sure to book using a credit card. But you won't be stranded. The fare you quoted is great. Chances are good that you won't do better with SWA during that travel period.....between the holidays and college kids heading home for breaks, the fares will be higher, not lower.

 

[ccw]

I played that SW waiting game for a while, too, but finally bought tickets a week or so ago. Not sure which airport you'll be using but for me, it worked out to get SW DING going TO MCO and Delta coming back. SW just did not have good flight times for my return trip ..i.e they had 2 morning flights and a later evening flight only, nothing in the mid-afternoon time frame. And their evening flight was not available as a DING fare. I'd go with the Delta fare you have. Remember that Delta will let you cancel or change flights(in most cases) with NO PENALTY/FEE until midnight of the day after you book your flight. At least that gives you a tiny window of time to second guess your decision and possibly snag a better deal! After that, don't look back!

 

[simzac]

I would never fly Delta. I am a courier driver in Indy and make pickups at the airport all the time. I am amazed at the number of bags always sitting outside the baggage office due to them not going on the flight with the passenger they were supposed to. Also have seen many cancelled flights. SW is much more reliable in my opinion.

 

[CarolA]

Living in Atlanta, I fly Delta weekly.

My bags ALWAYS make my flight... can't recall the last time they didn't.

However, DL is strict on check in times so if you don't check your bags within 30 mintues then of flight time then.....all bets are off. (And trust me, I see people arriving all the time with 20 minutes to spare and then having a nervous breakdown when the airline won't expedite thier bag and give them a pass to the front of the security line!)

DLs big problem is actually Atlanta. This summer Atlanta has had thunderstorms EVERY afternoon. Of course if there is a thunderstrorm you can't have ground crews working on large metal planes and if it's bad the planes can't land and take off... it's been a nightmare. However, the wonderful Atlanta weather conditions will be over by the time of the OPs flight... (Thank Goodness!)

 

[simzac]

Your right Carol, the problem is Atlanta. I will give you an example from last Sunday. The first arrival in the morning at Indy from Atlanta comes in at 7:50am. It is never a full flight. I was standing there waiting for my package to come down with the luggage. When all the passengers except 2 had picked up their bags, there was still 40-50 circling on the carousel. These were all from the provious night the baggage handler told me. It then takes several more flights to catch up on all the bags, sometimes even into Monday. And this is alot of travellers flights who are returning home on Sundays to go back to work and school the next day. If you don't believe me, fly up to Indy one Sunday morning and spend the day with me, you won't believe what you see. One thing to add though. It is just as bad on Northwest, United, US Air, and American. They all fall behind every weekend on luggage here in Indy. And this is during normal travel periods. Holidays are a nightmare, you hardly can walk down the concourse in baggage during those times.

 

[CarolA]

WOW! Sounds like Indy has a problem. I wonder if they use a service there. I know in Nashville SW has thier own baggage handlers and everyone else uses a service provided by the airline.. For reasons that the airport could NEVER explain (and I asked several times over the 14 years I lived there) SW could get luggage out in 15 minutes and the service took about an HOUR!!!! It was just plain stupid, but the airport authority was useless.

 

[Julia M]

Living in Atlanta, I fly Delta weekly.

My bags ALWAYS make my flight... can't recall the last time they didn't.

However, DL is strict on check in times so if you don't check your bags within 30 mintues then of flight time then.....all bets are off. (And trust me, I see people arriving all the time with 20 minutes to spare and then having a nervous breakdown when the airline won't expedite thier bag and give them a pass to the front of the security line!)

DLs big problem is actually Atlanta. This summer Atlanta has had thunderstorms EVERY afternoon. Of course if there is a thunderstrorm you can't have ground crews working on large metal planes and if it's bad the planes can't land and take off... it's been a nightmare. However, the wonderful Atlanta weather conditions will be over by the time of the OPs flight... (Thank Goodness!)

CarolA,

We will be flying Delta at Christmastime, and will be going through Atlanta. Is mid December a bad time for "weather"? We purposley tried not to transfer planes in Denver, Kansas City and Minneapolis, thinking they might have weather issues. How is Atlanta?

As a back up for us, also, there are 4 more flights out of Atlanta that night.....I purposely did that too, in case our flight was cancelled....more opportunities to get to Orlando!

Julia

 

[blessedby3]

I just checked with Delta and they said that I would have to pay a $50 per ticket charge if I had to change them, and that I could not cancel them unless I bought a refundable ticket. CCW had posted that I could probably change or cancel without a penalty, and I just wanted to let you know they said I could not do that. Have you been able to do this before? Just wondering.

 

[ccw]

Sorry for the confusion...but what I said in my post is correct. The no fee thing is only good til midnight the day after you book. I, too, sometimes forget to read the whole post!

 

[CarolA]

The nice thing about connecting in Atlanta is that winter isn't bad here. Plus it doesn't really start normally until January. We don't get much snow etc... Summer is worse. You should be fine.

 

[AngieInOH]

If I were you I'd grab the Delta deal if it's still available. The price you see quoted on Delta includes all taxes and fees. Even if you get a great DING at $54 you have to add taxes and fees which will put you closer to $70 each way. I've been watching Delta Rates for my area and got one for $69 one way. It only stayed that low for 2 days then went up to $130 one way.

I wouldn't worry too much about the bankruptcy thing. From everything that has been posted on here it shouldn't effect their flights.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Remember that Delta will let you cancel or change flights(in most cases) with NO PENALTY/FEE until midnight of the day after you book your flight. At least that gives you a tiny window of time to second guess your decision and possibly snag a better deal! After that, don't look back!

Are you sure about that? Delta changed a number of its policies and practices recently, July 26 afaik. They will no longer "hold" a fare/reservation until midnight the next day. There are several banks' debit cards they do not accept for an online purchase, so you have speak to a live person and there's a $5 charge for that. Song will no longer credit a price drop with no itinerary change for free - there's a $25 charge for that service now. I'm sure other there are other changes as well, but these are the ones I've encountered.