DOT Says No To Delta, Northwest and Overseas Carriers

The US Department of Transportation said the other day that Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines can't coordinate prices and schedules with their European partners.

For quite some time, Delta has been allies with Air France, but this wasn't as strong as Northwest's seudo-marriage to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. So when all four found themselves in the same airline alliance - SkyTeam - and when Air France merged with KLM, things got a bit trickier.

The ruling still allows Northwest to sell seats on Air France and Alitalia, another airline in SkyTeam.