But for the moment Northwest still owns its stake in Continental, which gives it control over that airline's destiny and thus unusual leverage in the next round of deals.
Laws barring foreigners from taking over airlines should go.
But to achieve such a goal, British Airways executives had insisted on control over the merged airline, people close to the negotiations said.
The regulator does, however, have direct control over the 11 airlines owned by the central government, which together have 416 aircraft and 81% of the market.
In cases where the airline has control over the delay or cancellation, customers can expect to be reimbursed or issued vouchers for hotel and food costs.
The deal, announced in April, had come under scrutiny amid concern over who would control the airline's operations.
Millie Woolf, head of Air Animals in Tampa, Fla .(Web site www.airanimal.com) and spokeswoman for the group, said: "The airlines have more control over cargo than over luggage.
The audit, conducted by the office of Kenneth Mead, the Department of Transportation's inspector general, took place before formal control over airport security passed from the airlines to the new Transportation Security Administration on Feb. 17.
The mass control over ticketing and prices of these airlines has meant an average rise in the base domestic airfares of roughly 13percentt between 2008 and 2014, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. .
Airlines have no control over the weather, but if a delay is caused by something that does under their control, you may have a right to accommodation or compensation depending on the length and severity of delay and how it relates to your itinerary.
