Originally Posted by
jiburi
If DOT has allowed DL to flex, the destination award becomes meaningless, and unfair to all bidders. Delta should stop whining and resume these flights or allow others to take the route away, likely giving AA the runner-up LAS award (my speculation). Does DL want to give away this slot to its competitor? Not likely.
Tokyo can be served multiple times, without the nod from DOT, just not to HND. NRT can be served without the restrictive slot approval process. Does DL want to do that? Nope.
All of the drama of the HND slot request, awards and flex request is strictly DL trying to win over its competitor. DL is just playing stupid to hoping to gain an advantage, but DOT is staying firm in its original decision. This request rejection was every bit expected.
Jiburi
Although:
- all of its competitors (including AA which has a JV with JL) with the exception of UA , actually agreed with Delta’s proposal.
- the proposal was only for
temporary flexibility
- from a consumer standpoint, we would actually want Delta to be successful in the Japan market as it is pretty much the only carrier with any heft going up against the two JVs.
- having a split operation between NRT and HND without a Japanese JV partner is simply a no-go due to costs.