Originally Posted by
DaDaDan
In my view, this is just a courtesy. If they show inventory available, another airline can push a ticket and grab it. If the reservation status says confirmed, that's all that's required to make it Delta's problem, at least legally.
I think this is more than a courtesy. It's actually required for airlines to book onto each other on the day of. If NWA did not do this, they did not follow their own procedure.
Airlines have agreements with one another to take each others' tickets at a discounted rate. A flight may show that it has seats for sale because an airline is willing to overbook for a premium price. But last-minute rebooks from other airlines are not that premium price. That's why it's customary to call the OAL and ask if they can send over a customer. DL may be willing to sell that seat for $800 and deal with it, but not $150 or whatever NWA is sending their way.
Otherwise, any airline could grab the last seat on an already oversold flight and HK their passengers for cheap to offload their liability.
Originally Posted by
StayingHomeIsBetter
Go back and read the OP. He personally called DL and received confirmation that all was OK.
Go back and read my post. I didn't ask if the OP called, I asked if the NWA agent called DL to make sure the booking was ok.
A customer calling DL's 800 number and an agent calling DL locally is radically different. A call center phone agent can verify a confirmed (HK) reservation. Whether that reservation should have been made in the first place is another story.