Flight cancellation and rerouting

Why not book with KLM and eliminate the 'middleman' (Delta) and all the questions of 'who do I contact' ?

Not quite sure why you're so concerned about cancellation situations, but in
general, if you book a codeshare, you should get 2 confirmation codes, one for
the marketing airline and one for the operating airline.

I would try to do any flight management directly with the operating airline, using
their confirmation code.

As for EC261, who cares who foots the bill as long as you get paid? But you are
correct in that EC261 applies on a flight leaving the US if the operating carrier is
Europe-based (it does not if you are flying UA, AA, DL).

It really depends on a lot of things.

You are booking a flight from point A to point B via Delta. If changes need to be made in advanced, you will hear from Delta. You may be moved to a different airline altogether. If you need to make changes, you deal with Delta

If you don't like the changes you receive in an email, you contact Delta.

If the flight is canceled the day of your flight, you will probably deal with the operating airline for an alternative although that airline could tell you to contact Delta.

For compensation, you have to wait to see which airline contacts you. Airlines are required by law to contact passengers that may be due compensation under EC261 and they have to tell you how to apply for it.

I recently had a Finnair flight canceled. Finnair rerouted me with a one stop itinerary rather than a nonstop. (There were no other nonstops.) The first flight was on Finnair, the second flight on British Airways. I was able to check in for both flights on the Finnair website.

Finnair contacted me a day or two later telling me what compensation I was permitted and gave me a choice of voucher or cash. I received the "cash" as a direct bank deposit within a week.

So, my advice is deal with the people making the changes and don't worry about EC261 until you need it.

Canadian airline WestJet is also part of the Delta/KLM codeshare. To save myself a lot of writing, check my link for a rant I wrote a few months ago. Personally, unless you're using points to fly with Delta it may be handier to book directly with KLM, but as far as I'm concerned, codeshares are a pain in the a%%.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/forgive-my-rant-the-pre-trip-report

I avoid codeshares when possible. When necessary, KLM is fine. Totally not a fan of AirFrance, another Delta partner. With AirFrance, you have to pay for seat assignment even if the Delta ticket allows for choice of seat. Its all in the fine print. There are other aspects of AirFrance flights that I dislike, but no need to discuss now. (@Allan, the fees for choice of seat on the codeshares, are covered "in the fine print")

With the information provided, I'd book with Delta. If there are any cancellations/changes, Delta will deal with it. With Delta and the partners, I feel like there are more options for flights originating from the U.S.

I had a Delta codeshare with KLM flight cancelled. I worked with Delta to get a new flight. Really was no different than had I booked a Delta (not codeshare) flight.

@joe32F, @shoeflyer, @Frank II, @Allan, @jules:

I usually also preferred booking directly with operating airlines, and would book all legs in single ticket.
I initially wasn't sure if I want to take the Scandinavia or Greece tour; to give myself flexibility I initially booked ticket for the route PDX-SEA-AMS with Delta because I prefer flying A330-900neo (2-4-2) over KLM's 787 (3-3-3). I like to book early to secure the window dual-seat in Delta plane. Once I decided to take the Greece tour I also booked the AMS-ATH connecting flight on a separate non-refundable ticket (which I'm stuck with) with a 3.5 hour connecting time at AMS. Everything was fine until days later when I realized I inevitably booked to fly on the busy Easter weekend :p

To reduce the chances of accumulative impact of flight cancellations or delays due to the busy holiday weekend; I decided to fly non-stop and upgrade to premium comfort for their window dual-seats. Luckily my initial non-refundable booking is with Delta and not KLM; so I simply canceled and used the eCredit to rebook for non-stop PDX-AMS flight operated by KLM. Here is the lesson for me: Delta (and most U.S. airlines) makes rebooking easy by issuing full eCredit if you cancel your non-refundable ticket; whereas rebooking KLM non-refundable ticket will cost quite a bit.

Actually I just messaged Delta and this is what I was told:

• marketing airline (i.e. Delta) is responsible for rerouting passenger to their destination regardless of if the cancellation happens days before or on the day of departure.
• if passenger wants to reroute/rebook themselves they will go through Delta

I'm the type who likes emergency preparedness, it will help to reduce the stress and know what to do if the unexpected were to happen.

Thanks everyone for your response; it's very helpful! Have a great day!

Why not book with KLM and eliminate the 'middleman' (Delta)

One reason could be that the codeshare is cheaper than booking direct. I recall a Delta/AF routing where the price on klm.com was about $500 (even though no KLM metal), on Delta about $800, and on af.com about $1200, for the same flights. I bought from klm.com.

I had this happen last year. Booked flights on American Airlines, but the transatlantic was a code share with Iberia. That flight was delayed, delayed, then cancelled at 1 am due to mechanical issues. Of course there was a HUGE line at the Iberia counter to re-book. I walked over to an American counter that happened to be open waiting for a delayed flight to arrive. They wanted to send me back over to Iberia. But I told them I BOOKED with American, not Iberia. So they were able to re-book my flight. It took some effort, and a supervisor, but they did it.

I received compensation from Iberia for EU261.

It looks like to me you are way overthinking the situation. Part of travel is being able to make changes or handle situations as they occur. You can plan everything out to the "T" and still have an unforeseen situation happen. Yrur goal should be to enjoy your trip.

I booked w AA - JFK-CDG then CDG-LHR-JFK. Outbound on AA and inbound in BA.

Flight in LHR was canx for mechanical; I had both the AA and BA apps on my phone, AA rebooked me automatically. But it was to EWR not JFK. So I stood in line w BA and they reboked w no issue.

And yes, UK261 applied, win win.