Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines haven't merged yet, but their employees are working together to urge Congress to take action to bring down oil prices.
Delta has created a website, headlined "Fighting America's Oil Crisis," that helps employees e-mail their lawmakers to express concern about "loopholes that allow run-away speculation in the oil trading markets."
In the first 48 hours of the campaign, nearly 10,000 e-mails were sent by Northwest and Delta employees and retirees clicking on capwiz.com/delta/home. Next week, Northwest and Delta customers will be asked to join the grassroots effort.
"The airline industry's fare and fee increases are a direct result of these record oil prices, so we expect a good response from [customers] as well," Northwest spokeswoman Tammy Lee said Wednesday.
Delta's Kent Landers estimated that more than 100,000 messages will be generated by Delta customers and employees.
The chief executives of both airlines were in Washington in recent days to press politicians for quick action to rein in energy speculators.
LIZ FEDOR