AirplaneWorkersOnStrikeFilter

March 23, 2006 7:56 AM

A friend of mine is flying on Delta soon and wants to know: if they strike, will another airline honor her ticket?

My friend lives in North Carolina and will be going home soon to Kentucky. She writes:

"Delta was the only airline that could get me home next weekend that was under $300, I had no choice. My flight in is on United, so I have no problem getting there but I might be stuck in Kentucky. It was ridiculous, *all* the other flights coming back here that day were expensive, WAY more than usual."

So basically: if Delta strikes, will she have to end up shelling out again for a more expensive ticket to get back to North Carolina?

posted by philulrich to travel & transportation (4 comments total)

No guarantees, but I've seen a few strikes where other airlines did, in fact, honor the tickets at least on a standby basis. ComAir, which is a subsidiary of Delta, flies many routes in that region. You might have your friend call ComAir and ask the question.
posted by TeamBilly at 8:40 AM on March 23, 2006

It's entirely possible that another airline will honor the ticket to try to gain new customers, but that depends on whether they have any room on their flights, which, given how expensive the tickets were on the other airlines and how many other people would be affected by the same strike, seems like it might be a problem.

Of course, North Carolina is close enough to Kentucky that if she can't get a reasonably-priced flight back she could always rent a car and drive back.
posted by kindall at 8:41 AM on March 23, 2006

If they do stop flying, she may be SOL according to an interesting article on airline bankruptcy here.
posted by Floydd at 8:55 AM on March 23, 2006

If she's flying this weekend (25th-26th) it shouldn't be a problem. The labor dispute has gone to arbitration and the ruling from the arbitration panel isn't expected until April. Also, the pilots union is taking a strike vote that doesn't close until April 4th.
posted by thirteenkiller at 9:03 AM on March 23, 2006