spc354

Tsk.. Tsk... Where is the civil discourse?

GMill

And I.

Xeno

Same here and it was cost serious time and money to adjust to this terrible plan.

It just amazes me that Aegean Air, Cyprus Air, SAS, and others do this for for me (when 2nd ticket is DL) but DL will not.

You know one thing on the money front is if DL is late with my luggage again where SAS or whoever is the last carrier, it is SAS that has to give me money for clothes and deliver my suitcase to my final destination.

Now when I go to MSQ next April, I will fly into FRA, have an 8 hour layover to catch Belavia Airlines to MSQ and be forced out into the main terminal waiting for the 2 hour check-in before I can go to the lounge. On the return, I will have to spend the night at FRA to make this work.

Often1

It's not required by the new DOT rules, but the new DOT rules have made compliance so difficult that interlining bags onto a separate PNR creates too many problems and the likelihood of a violation of the rules.

Because DOT looks at the "itinerary" not the "ticket" once DL checks bags through onto segments separately tickted, those downstream segments are covered by the original baggage allowance. If you are ticketed AAA-BBB on ticket #1 and then BBB-CCC-DDD on ticket #2, the carrier flying you from CCC-DDD is theoretically bound by the AAA-BBB baggage allowance, but has no way of even knowing that the segment existed, that you flew it or what your allowance was.

Given that "ticket" is a defined term, widely understood and has existed since the beginning of commercial air travel, if DOT amended the rule to cover a "ticket" rather than an "itinerary" this problem would go away and frankly, it is likely that more consumers would gain than lose.

TRAVELSIG

There is no longer any regularly scheduled commercial service between VCE and MXP by air so problem solved! The newish train Freccia Bianca makes the journey in just over two hours Milano-Venezia.

Not interlining on a separate ticket is unfortunate however seems pretty much par for the course these days (EU carriers have been doing this for a few years now).

TTT

Here is a FT blog post about HAs rule change. Went into practice 8/1.
http://www.flyertalk.com/the-gate/bl...t-tickets.html

skchin

I thought it was called "North".

pbarnette

BA is also notorious for not interlining. I've never had problems, but I seem to be in the minority (status, maybe). I believe QF will not interline on separate tickets either. Frankly, I think folks need to prepare themselves for more of this across all carriers.

motytrah

Actually they do. Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO) was charged with creating the ticket fee database, and that's just what they did. I would also say, based on the extension letter from the airlines, that forward looking calculations wasn't really an issue. They already pull the information in when they interline the bag. What is a problem for them is looking backwards on the itinerary. I would assume the airlines were planing on seeing if fees had been collected so that they could make claims to them.

Roy LaHood (Secretary of DOT) is a Republican and was trying to craft a rule that would make the various airlines work out a private sector solution. LaHood is retiring and it's a big risk that the next Secretary will be in favor of a private sector solution. The Airlines may regret dragging their feet on this.

pbarnette

Why would it amaze you? I would think a tiny regional carrier like Aegean, whose business model relies on shuttling vacationers to the islands, sees a much higher percentage of sales coming from these sorts of tickets than a major airline like DL. They cater to it because it is part and parcel of their business model. It is a distraction and extra cost for DL.

Xeno

What kind of status and how much must I pay for DL to continue a service I depend on for my international trips?

TRAVELSIG

You could just buy a ticket to your final destination- that would solve the problem in 99/100 cases.

rylan

If you read Xeno's previous postings in this thread, that is impossible because DL does not fly to some destinations. That is the problem that many people are talking about... you can fly DL to get close to the destination, but then have to go to another airline for the final leg. Now instead of staying in security, you have to leave (which will often involve immigration and customs), recheck at ticketing, and go through security again.

That makes what could previously be done safely with a 2hr layover impossible, and now require more on the order of 4hr.

pbarnette

I suspect you'd have to pay more than you are willing to and will simply have to start purchasing single tickets or schlepping your bags. Sorry.

pbarnette

I think you are misreading things. DL will still check through your bag to those locales, but the legs will have to be on a single ticket. The cost of those tickets can be prohibitive, but they are available.