TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) -- On October 1, Silver Airways took over commercial air service to Tupelo and other Mississippi cities that lost service from Delta Air Lines.
Silver now connects Mississippi passengers to Delta flights at bigger airports, but Tupelo airport officials say travelers are still having difficulty booking flights online.
"The problem is that Delta is having computer issues. And they are redoing the registration system, and that's what Delta says is the holdup, and they've been hoping to get to it and get us in and have the extended inline agreement, but it just hasn't happened yet," said Airport Authority Chairman Ty Robinson.
The problem has gotten to the point where one of Mississippi's U.S. senators has stepped in to urge the airlines to get to work.
Senator Roger Wicker of Tupelo sent a letter asking the two carriers to quickly resolve the technical issue.
"I was very appreciative to hear that Senator Wicker has stepped in and has sent a letter to both Silver and Delta expressing his interest, and hopefully, this will get things rolling," said Robinson.
One main problem is the effect this may have on business. People may think there's no commercial air service to the All-America City.
"...unless they go to Expedia or some online thing like that, they don't realize that they can get into Tupelo or Greenville or Meridian or any of the other Mississippi places that Silver serves," continued Robinson.
Delta apologizes for the problem. The airline says it hopes to have the issue resolved by year's end.
Until then, the airline says travelers should book their connecting travel through Delta reservations by phone at (800) 221-1212.
