Delta Partners

Do you know what airline you are flying on? (cuz it ain’t Delta)

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Rene’s Points For Better Travel, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc. has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Rene’s Points For Better Travel and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.


We get on “Delta Connection” flights all the time. From the nicer 2 cabin ones to the tiny, horrible, old and smelly CRJ-100/200. But let me ask you some quiz questions and see just how much you know Delta.

Q1 ) How many regional partners fly for Delta?
Q2) Of those, how many parent company’s own those?
Q3) What will happen to them over the next 2 years?

OK to try to make this easy I have done a screen grab with a “map” from Delta.com site that shows all the partner airlines and you can see that live here.

So the answer to question #1 is 8. There were 9 but as soon as Comair is gone there will be only 8 remaining. But on to question #2. The answer to that is 4. Here is the breakdown.

1) SkyWest runs SkyWest and also is parent to ExpressJet
2) Chautauqua Air & Shuttle America is owned by Republic Holdings
3) Pinnacle Airlines owns Mesaba
4) GoJet Airlines & Compass both owned by Trans States Holding that also, btw, own Trans State Airlines

Are you following all this so far? Why should we care? 99% of the time we do not have to. Mother Delta will be our point of contact. But always remember there is a reason the phone reps mention and on Delta.com there is the little “1” or “2” on the end of a flight number telling us we are NOT flying Delta on that leg.

So do you care who you are are flying with and does this information surprise you? For me, I love to see CRJ 100/200’s going away, even if slower than we want. It was announced that SkyWest will be dumping 66 of their inventory of 159 (some serving other airlines) smaller CRJ’s. If Pinnacle wants to any chance of survival, they will have to move in the same direction. So that goes to answer question #3! Have a great weekend everyone – René

PS – I have update my “Best Points Cards” list to include the 50,000 point INK PLUS card. Thanks all so much for supporting the blog if you have a round on the way soon!

 

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Rene’s Points For Better Travel, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc. has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Rene’s Points For Better Travel and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.


Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

René de Lambert is a contributing writer and the founder of RenesPoints. He is an avid Delta and SkyTeam flyer who has held Delta’s top Diamond Medallion status for many years and flown millions of miles.

11 Comments

  1. Alex Reply

    All of Mesaba’s personnel and aircraft were fenced to Pinnacle in January, so Mesaba has essentially ceased operations.

  2. Kurt Reply

    I know just about everyone hates the CRJ-200, but I, for one, am worried about the removal of so many of them from Delta’s fleet. With the larger planes I just have a feeling they are going to reduce the total number of flights, which will reduce flexibility in scheduling to the smaller airports I like to fly from/to. I’d rather be able to get there when I want to than have to wait half a day to get there on a nicer plane.

  3. Bob Reply

    Without the CRJs there wouldn’t be service to some communities. I use to flight attendant on the CRJ200 for Air Wisconsin years ago. There would be the people that were upset that they had to fly on such a small jet going to Moline or Charlottesville. I guess they were expecting a 747…or atleast a 737. I’m sure there were even more scowls coming from those passengers getting on the Saabs or DASHs.

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  8. ZACHARY SIMONTON Reply

    The CRJ-550 is a very economical plane for smaller route markets. It is perfect for airlines who want to serve airports with small passenger numbers. I think that the CRJ-550 would help the regional airlines a lot, and without making passengers feel so uncomfortable. All CRJ-200s and ERJ-135/140/145 planes could be replaced with the special version of the CRJ-700. I heard that United Airlines has the CRJ-550, and it will help them a lot. Delta and American Airlines should also follow United, and get the CRJ-550.

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