No, someone IS wrong. I'll try to explain it so a sixth grader can understand....
Mr and Mrs Smith want to buy a house. They find a great little ranch style rambler in a nice neighborhood that was built by Cute Cottages Construction Company. To be more specific, Cute Cottages bought the land and did the framing. The plumbing, electrical, roofing, and landscaping were all subcontracted. So, the Smiths want a product: the house. Cute Cottages provides the product. If there is a problem with the house, say the tub leaks, the Smiths call Cute Cottages, not Pete's Pipes, because
Cute Cottages sold the house. If Pete continues to provide a poor product, Cute Cottages,
the customer needing plumbing work,
may fire Pete,
not the Smiths.
In our industry, the product is customer service (on time, inflight service, or whichever metrics you wish). Joe Schmoe buys a ticket to fly KPIA to KSOW from Marvelous Mainline. Marvelous Mainline is happy to sell the ticket; however, they only fly 737s ORD to PHX. So, Marvelous Mainline hires Paul's Puddlejumpers to move Mr Schmoe from PIA to ORD and Sammy's Shorthaul Senecas for PHX to SOW. When Mr. Schmoe takes his trip, his bags get lost. He calls Marvelous Mainline to complain even though it was Sammy who left Mr Schmoe's bag on the ramp. Sammy does not pay to replace the bag, Marvelous Mainline does, because
Marvelous Mainline sold the ticket. But Sammy better change his way, or
his customer, Marvelous Mainline, will find someone else to do the job.
Customers never lose future business, producers do. The mainline being the regional's customer isn't debatable. The regional sells a service to the mainline, not the other way around.
Your example shows how a dissatisfied customer (the mainline) has the power to choose a different provider (the regional).
Are you still
confused?