sea_flyer_17

I bought a ticket on AS.com that was half Alaska, half Delta. (It didn’t come up on one way search, but did if I keyed in segments on multi-city). I had seen route originally on Google Flights.

Given their competition, I was surprised this was allowed (and it was much cheaper than other options).

I’m flying later tonight on it - What should I expect? Are they still interlining bags? If my starting flight is Alaska (I’m MVP), do my bags check through free into the Delta flight? Is the boarding pass that Alaska gave me for DL flight good to go, or do I also need to checkin at DL.com?

And since I know I cant get AS miles for the DL segment, can I switch just that one to my DL number? (And if so, when do I do that? At airport between flights?)

Thanks!

beckoa

I've seen this from time to time on alaskaair.com for smaller cities.

Was a bit surprised, but have seen this on other carriers like AA.

DrAlex

Fascinating. Didn't know that was possible.




On the bags issue: I've been able to interline DL to AS (INL-SFO). I'm guessing as MVP, you'll have no problem if requested (but, YMMV).

rustykettel

Probably a bit too late for the OP, but shouldn't have any problem checking bags since it's in the same ticket and AS can check baggage through to DL.

Back in the partnership days, the AS printed boarding pass was good on DL. If nothing else, easy enough to have the DL GA reprint your boarding pass if desired. If you're using apps, go to the DL app after checking in with AS and (with the DL PNR) see if your DL boarding pass appears.

You should be able to put your DL FF# (or any other eligible program) in at any time since that segment won't credit to AS. Get your DL PNR from your itinerary on alaskaair.com, then go to manage your trip on delta.com with the DL PNR and add it in.

sea_flyer_17

Confirmed, bag interlined fine. (Well, I guess I should wait to confirm it after I get it at my final destination!)

For future knowledge, anyone know what “benefits” work from AS if you purchase a two-airline routing like this (I can only get it to show up on multi-city desktop; there doesn’t seem to be a mobile trick for it)?

ie do Gold get to cancel to last minute?
do others get the 60 day cancellation/change option?
does guaranteed airfare apply or companion fare passes work?

3Cforme

UA, AA and DL routinely sell flights on non-partner carrier metal. You're not expecting AS to start its own service to International Falls, MN, are you?

What would be a surprise is AS and DL having DrAlex's trip as a single fare component in each direction. A quick look on ITA Matrix suggests that is effectively an AS r/t SFO-MSP plus a DL r/t MSP-INL. That's the way it was done for decades under CAB pricing, and then before the vast growth in destination count by the big U.S. carriers. (American had ~40 destinations systemwide in 1968. AA/DL/UA each now have more than 300.)

There's a DL SFO-INL r/t on those dates for $282 and it doesn't force overnights in both directions.

Yes, AS and DL can interline bags on a single ticket just fine - many years of IATA agreements and IATA-compliant systems achieve that. Be familiar with the intricacies of the U.S. DOT's single ticket/single allowance baggage rule: don't expect your AS elite allowance when you check in for the return segment with the non-AS carrier.

CDKing

Its been a while since I've done one though but called AS and they were able to ticket separate AS & AA base fares on one ticket - SAN-PDX (Funeral stopover) PDX-ORD-BOS

sea_flyer_17

Well, they did try and interline. But bag didn’t make the DL flight so it’s on the next one. I’m assuming Alaska 20 minute guarantee doesn’t apply in this case?

beckoa

The DL one might. As DL is the last operator of your flights, they are responsible to get the bag to you.

CDKing

I refuse to check bags on interline connection. Seems to cause more lost bags that way.

3Cforme

Only if he was accruing Delta SkyMiles for the flight. I haven't tested to see if they enforce this, however.

SkyMiles number must be included on the reservation to be eligible.

https://www.delta.com/bags/bagsClaimAutomation.action

DrAlex

No, I know Delta is locked in there and loving their subsidy every day. I simply used a small airport only served by DL as beckoa suggested. INL is the one I am most familiar with, so I just chose a random date and poof, there it was.

So, is the conclusion that this example r/t SFO-INL would be issued as AS ticket stock (as two r/t's)? Or would it be something else?

This could be an interesting way to force some AS ticket stock flexibility for DL flights!?!?

I might need to try this in July...

sea_flyer_17

In my case, it was SEA-BOS on AS, BOS-DTW on DL. So it doesn’t need to be small airports, many routings will show up on AS.com if done as multi city.

CDKing

Rarely is the price better doing it this way since you are paying same similar as 2 separate tickets. Sometimes you can get lucky with end on end bookings.

United for example will sell many non partners (including AS) without the need to trick the reservation system. They would rather offer than lose the whole sale to another carrier.

kyanar

United will happily sell you an itinerary on OneWorld metal for parts of it for not much more than a UA only itinerary. And that's to avoid losing you to another StarAlliance carrier.