Delta Air Lines will begin offering simplified versions of
its contract to global corporate accounts Oct. 1.
The new contracts, dubbed "Legal-Easy" by Delta,
significantly cut down the length of legal terms and conditions in Delta's
contracts, said Kristen Shovlin, vice president of sales operations and
development. In the general format, which travel buyers headquartered in the
United States will use, the number of pages has been reduced from 20 to four.
In a version for European buyers, it was cut from 20 to seven, she said. "We
went through each section to make sure it was relevant, required and easy to
navigate, and we removed some of the dense language to make sure it's
understood," Shovlin said. "We wanted to make sure it's clean,
simplified and to the point."
The new contracts also cut down the size of the pricing
tables that show buyers what was negotiated and promised, director of corporate
sales development Jon Young said. Those tables can run for more than 100 pages
in the most complex contracts, so Delta developed a way to present the data
more concisely, he said.
Delta worked with partners Aeromexico, Air France-KLM,
Alitalia, Gol and Virgin Atlantic, and all those carriers will be able to offer
the same pared down contract, Young said.
Delta had not overhauled the contracts' legal aspects in
more than five years, and the carrier's advisory board indicated cutting out
the clutter would be worthwhile, Shovlin said. Delta worked with its advisory board
members, who are mostly corporate travel buyers, and they in turn worked with
their own legal departments to pare down the contracts.
While the original idea was to create a single contract,
complexities and legal requirements within Europe, not including the United
Kingdom, necessitated another version, Young said. Delta will present buyers
based in other global regions with the more simplified version, though Delta
can adapt it to address specific legal requirements in a region or by company,
he said.
Delta will not switch all contracts over to the
simplified version on Oct. 1. Rather, it will gradually introduce them as
contracts come up for renewal, Shovlin said. If buyers wish to switch over
earlier, Delta can accommodate them, she said.