Just a word of warning on flight bookings. If a portion of your itinerary is on a regional aircraft make sure you check the status of your flight the night before and in the morning when you get up. Most regionals are no longer able to fully staff their flying with pilots. Some are simply telling their partner airlines they can't meet their contractual obligations. Many are going to rolling brown outs where they cancel a certain percentage of flights each day and spread them out on a rotating basis.
When the major airlines report completion factors they conveniently exclude contract flying. The situation may become acute this summer. If possible when booking try and avoid regional bookings. The airlines are required to disclose when they ticket you if the flying is outsourced but they keep it in the fine print. Usually a very short statement saying flight XXX is operated by Mesa airlines.
G

George--that sounds pretty scary.. If that happens to someone on a contract flight, what is the major airline's responsibility? Do they have to get you to your destination somehow, by re-routing you on some other airline if possible? And if you're taking that regional carrier from home, to catch a flight on say Delta, from Atlanta to St Thomas, if the regional carrier doesn't fly, will you be counted as a 'no show' by Delta?

You need to do that for the "big" carriers too.

Like probably all of us, the airline story from hell.
Last trip in March on Delta found out night before leaving that return leg from ATL to Denver (after STT to ATL on DElta) was "rescheduled" to leave 30min before we got to ATL from STT. Of course that flight became last Delta of the night and supposedly having to contract with other airlines they wouldn't book us on anyone else. AFter much complaining with service rep got booked to Denver on next day flight. Did a recheck to confirm outgoing Denver->ATL flight leaving in 12 hrs and found out Delta "rescheduled" yet another leg (i.e. cancelled a flight) and was now leaving 2 hrs earlier than originally. If I had'nt tripled checked every leg we would have arrived at airport as our flight left. Comp was measly $100 on $500 of expenses for overnight stay in ATL and members of our party lost out on work wages the next day.

The airlines obligation is the same as if you booked all mainline. They own the problem and have to rebook you and cover hotel and meal expenses.

I am having a hard time following the Denver issue. As a practical matter airlines never move a departure up on short notice. Major schedule changes may cause that but they are always at least 90 days out. I wonder if you mean rebooked on another flight. I also don't understand the cost issue. The distressed passenger rate in ATL is 40 to 75 a night for a hotel and normally Delta hands you a voucher to cover it. PM me the dates and flights and I will try and see what happened.
G

OK, thanks. That is some consolation.

Yeah.. hey.. maybe we can get GeorgeC1's number on our speed-dials.. for when the airlines say
"Heck,no - you ain't gonna go..."

The interesting thing is the vast majority of passengers are unaware they are not really flying on a Delta, American or United flight. They have no idea the flight is outsourced. They paint the Jets the same as the mainline. It gets confusing to pilots on the ground because they operate using their own airlines call signs. You might be told to follow the SkyWest jet from the left but the aircraft that goes by is painted Delta. It can get even more confusing because many regionals contract with all three major airlines. The better ground controllers will say follow the SkyWest flight in Delta paint!
G

I have been meaning to mention something to you George. Last Cat Fight I flew Delta but (with full knowlege and great hope <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />) was not given a seat assignment for the return. On arriving at STT after the Cat Fight my expectations were realized as the flight was seriously overbooked. I was offered a $500 flight voucher, guarnteed space for the next day, taxi vouchers and overnight at an all exclusive out near Red Hook with a rack rate of $350/day. I took the voucher but asked if they could just give me a voucher or cash for the 4:30 ferry instead so I could get back to West End but they couldn't do it. If the counter had had $100 cash on hand Delta could have saved about $200. I did make full use of the "all inclusive" however. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />