Do Delta And United Work Together On Tickets?

Delta and United: Do They Collaborate on Tickets?

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are some of the biggest airline companies in the USA and globally. Both have large domestic and international flight networks out of numerous large hub airports within the country. Being two of the most popular airlines, people often ask whether Delta Airlines and United Airlines have any affiliation or partnership when it comes to purchasing tickets.

The short answer is no. Delta and United do not have an interline or codeshare agreement in place at this time. This means that the two airlines do not operate a codeshare agreement in which they both sell seats on each other’s flights. Therefore, when buying a ticket to a Delta flight, you have no possibility to proceed to a United flight as in one journey. Delta and Northwest are separate entities and do not transfer baggage between each other nor do they have their schedules linked together.

Yet Delta and United are members of the SkyTeam and Star Alliance global airline alliances, respectively. These alliances allow both Delta and United to share information with other alliance members regarding such matters as frequent flyer programs, airport lounges and, at times, codeshare flights. But it is essential to mention that there is no cooperation between the Delta and United brands directly.

In case one had to travel using both Delta and United airlines, one would have to buy two tickets, one for each of these airlines. This means you are on your own to ensure that you have sufficient layover time between flights when using separate Delta and United tickets. Just because one airline had a delay or cancellation, the other airline is not responsible for helping you or making up for your loss since both bookings are separate.

Delta and United are also two of the largest national competitors and while they do not codeshare, they do not even offer any kind of interline or allied fare products either. Thus, you cannot combine Delta and United flights in the same reservation to build unique itineraries or obtain discounts on one carrier when booking the other. They all have their own schedules, routes, types of aircraft they use, product offerings, charges and prices for tickets.

However, the fares between Delta and United may not differ much depending on the routes and the classes of service that you are comparing, especially in non-stop flights between two cities. However, the rates and fees for redeeming points for the two airlines’ frequent flyer programs differ substantially, which makes the price of flights using miles quite diverse.

While Delta and United are rivals, they have pursued similar ways to modernize their cabins with lie-flat seats and enhance customer experience in premium cabins in the last ten years. Both airlines have also, in the recent past, done away with most of the change fees as well. So there are some similar policies in place, even if the airlines do not jointly create these policies themselves across any type of partnership.

As it is evident today, Delta and United share terminal space in many large airports across the US. These include Los Angeles (LAX), Seattle (SEA), San Francisco (SFO), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), and Washington Dulles (IAD), among others. Thus, it is possible that the two airlines can coordinate at these hub airports even when passengers are ticketed individually. Make sure to consider any minimum connection times, international arrival procedures or terminal transfer requirements while transiting between terminals and airlines.

While United and Delta do not have any sort of partnership with integrated flights like Continental and Northwest do, both airline companies offer a large number of routes for their flights that connect most of the major cities across the United States as well as other international locations. All in all, you can ultimately get to a majority of destinations around the globe from their hub cities between the two competing carriers. However, the tickets will have to be booked separately in almost all cases, with only a couple of exceptions involving international codeshare flights. You will accept all connection risks when flying between different Delta and United itineraries. It is important to check all airline, airport, and governmental entry policies when transferring between airlines too.

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