Why codeshare

Both of the flights have American Airlines flight numbers, but neither are operated by American Airlines. United is the only U. But American and Delta also want to sell you a ticket to paradise. Also, as Air France is a SkyTeam member, Delta elite members will get lounge access, priority boarding and other elite status benefits on their Air France flight.

The situation is a bit more complicated for American Airlines flyers. American is a member of the Oneworld alliance, and no Oneworld airline operates flights to Tahiti. That frustration might be worth it for the right price. However, a flight schedule change, flight delay or cancellation could completely wreck your plans. For many travelers, price and convenience are the primary factors when booking a flight.

This is the general rule for how codeshare flights credit to mileage programs. But, there are some important exceptions. Star Alliance member United uses a hybrid approach. In addition to the examples covered above, there are other times where it can make sense to intentionally book a codeshare flight.

For example, booking a codeshare flight may be key to saving hundreds of dollars on your next flight booking.

However, flights must be marketed by British Airways. Another time it can make sense to book a codeshare is for selectively earning elite status credit. Most U. However, your preferred airline may not have access to how much you paid for a flight when you book through a partner airline. So, many airlines award miles and elite credits based on the distance you fly and the fare class you booked.

So, there can be times where it makes sense to book a codeshare flight to take advantage of this aspect. Your AAdvantage elite status earnings are similarly much better. Doing so takes a few steps, but it can really pay off. With that said, there are some circumstances where you want to avoid booking a codeshare flight. Only flights operated and marketed by Delta are eligible for online upgrades.

However, American Airlines and JetBlue have teased that some reciprocal elite benefits may be introduced soon. Codeshare flights may seem like a wonky bit of aviation business. A newer phenomenon is virtual interlining , which takes the trend of passengers organising their own self-connecting flights one step further. In this instance there is no contract between airlines as each airline regards passengers travelling on their flights as point-to-point travellers. Instead, the provider of the virtual interlining ticket such as an online travel agency or travel technology company, bundles flights and presents them to a prospective passenger as a single package.

Their service may or may not include responsibility for the baggage transfers and any missed connections. Companies offering virtual interlining products need access to accurate schedules but schedule synchronicity between operating and marketing airlines is less of a concern.

Codesharing is an eminently practical solution to the problem of how to grow an airline. By making inventory available to another airline on a key route, each airline can market the destinations served beyond that route.

Oneworld alliance member American Airlines was a codeshare partner on the route. This sort of connection between hub airports is where codesharing brings huge benefits. Source: OAG Mapper. Given that airlines generally rely on traffic being generated from both ends of a route, this type of arrangement allows Iberia to benefit from the market knowledge and consumer reach that American Airlines has in the US market, while American Airlines benefits equally from the brand awareness, marketing and market knowledge that Iberia has of European country markets.

In this instance, only Iberia was operating the ORD-MAD route at the time but if both airlines were operating it, and had flights had different times of the day, they would have gained from the multiple frequencies on offer as well as the additional connectivity brought about by extra flights on the hub connection. As a result, barriers to entry and exit are also lower with a codesharing model.

For the passenger who turns up at the airport expecting to see an aircraft with the livery of the airline they booked on, there may be disappointment, especially if they perceive the airline service as not as good.

However, behind the scenes there may be many benefits. For a start, they may well have benefitted from the broader range of flight options that often comes with codesharing, especially if there was no direct flight available to their destination. If their journey requires a connection between two airline partners, that should take place seamlessly with baggage moved for them and efforts made to ensure flight connections are not missed.

Elite privileges are maintained across partner airlines so passengers can continue to accrue frequent flyer miles, use priority check-in or boarding and airline lounges. If something goes wrong the codeshare partner is available to facilitate rebooking.

Without a high degree of coordination, this is inevitable, or at least there is a delay between the operating carrier filing and the marketing carrier catching up with an identical schedule file.

The marketing carrier will always be a bit behind the curve. Such schedule misalignment has serious consequences. Changed flight departure times may lead to a flight being unavailable for sale due to not meeting Minimum Connect Time requirements, or worse, a passenger missing a connection.

A change of terminal, equally, could leave passengers in the wrong place or without enough time to transfer between terminals. GDSs and OTAs rely on schedule synchronisation; without it they need to make more manual interventions in bookings, their costs rise and they can lose business.

The current process sees airlines changing schedules frequently. In OAG handled around , changes on average every day. In , despite air travel being severely reduced for much of the year, the daily average level of changes was around , demonstrating the extent of the impact on airline schedules, and the need for airlines to make constant adjustments.

At its peak, OAG handled , schedule changes during one day in March In the first four months of the average number of schedule changes each day has been , But what if they could be?

OAG has been looking at the extent of the problem of misaligned flights as part of an experiment undertaken by OAG Labs considers the impact of over-riding marketing flight information with operating flight data.

Other ways codeshares operate are on multi-leg journeys where you fly one segment on one airline, and during a layover, switch to a second airline for the next leg. Both of these segments will be ticketed as one flight ticket, issued by one airline who is a codeshare partner with the second. This is a popular option when flying to a smaller city through a larger hub.

All segments and airlines would be ticketed together and purchased as one, despite technically spanning three airlines. Airlines are legally mandated to clearly state when a flight is operated as a codeshare.

This should be visible during not only the booking process, but on the confirmed ticket as well. On Google Flights, the results show which airline the flight is actually operated by, but list which additional airlines also sell the tickets. To check which airline is operating a particular flight, refer to the listed flight number in the booking process, or find it in your ticket confirmation after purchasing.

You may also receive a check-in reminder leading up to the departure, which should list it. Refer back to your flight confirmation email, which will have a confirmation number or record location number associated with your reservation.

In most cases, if you are booked on a single itinerary with Air France for example, and your first flight is with Air France, and the second is a codeshare on KLM, you will not have to recheck bags during the layover to KLM.

Your bags would be ticketed and checked all the way through to your final destination. It really depends on your needs. Codeshares let you book through preferred airlines, earn and redeem miles, and have greater access to a wide range of destinations, while still showing loyalty to your preferred airline.