Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - booking an Alaska flight as codeshare

Alaska flies nonstop between two city pairs that I need to travel for business. However, the company has a rule about how many company folks can be on any one flight at a time.

I think I can circumvent that rule if I book the flight using another carrier as the marketing carrier (say Delta), but making sure I'm flying Alaska metal. The manifest will say I'm on a Delta flight instead of an Alaska flight.

So two questions.

1. How can I actually go about doing this? Do I go to delta.com? Or an Expedia? Or something else?

2. What impact might this decision have if I'm MVP in terms of benefits. I believe it means that instead of a 48hr window for upgrade opportunity, I'm kind of limited to availability day of flight.

And when I say "I", I mean someone else. :)

Thanks!

Alaska flies nonstop between two city pairs that I need to travel for business. However, the company has a rule about how many company folks can be on any one flight at a time.

I think I can circumvent that rule if I book the flight using another carrier as the marketing carrier (say Delta), but making sure I'm flying Alaska metal. The manifest will say I'm on a Delta flight instead of an Alaska flight.



This kind of cleverness would get me a severe reprimand, if not fired.

IIRC, the matter of MVP benefits on AS-operated, partner-marketed is oft-discussed. Maybe Missy can jump in.

To answer your second question first, you are corect that if the flight is not purchased as an AS marketed AS numbered flight then you would be waiting until after you get to the airport to be put on the upgrade waitlist. As far as advance MVP seating, YMMV.

As fare a being able to book the flight as a codeshare thats a little tougher. First of all not all AS flights are codeshared with another partner. Second, not all codeshared flights are available as "stand alone" codeshares. For example, AS137 is codeshared with DL. If you go to DL.com and price an itinerary from SLC-ANC you'll see the AS flight listed as DL9073 after the DL operated flight from SLC to PDX. If you're just going from PDX-ANC, however, there is no way to book AS137 alone as DL9073. The codeshare totally depends on the connecting flight.

There are some "stand-alone" codeshares. For instance PHX-SEA. Almost all of the AS non-stops are available on AA.com under the AA codeshare flight number and usually the fares are lower as well. It all depends on the route and which partner is doing the codesharing.

For MVP seating related issues on a code share flight, call the MVP desk. With a name, date and flight number, they can provide it. At that point, go onto AS.com and use that number to make your seat selection.

Its really too bad that your company didn't go even more extreme and embargo you from commercial air travel :p

You might as well book the same flight, since its pretty obvious the codeshare is going to be the same plane anyway.

Its really too bad that your company didn't go even more extreme and embargo you from commercial air travel :p

You might as well book the same flight, since its pretty obvious the codeshare is going to be the same plane anyway.

Or go on a routing where you can earn more EQMs and tell them you're just following company policy. ;)

Alaska flies nonstop between two city pairs that I need to travel for business. However, the company has a rule about how many company folks can be on any one flight at a time.

I think I can circumvent that rule if I book the flight using another carrier as the marketing carrier (say Delta), but making sure I'm flying Alaska metal. The manifest will say I'm on a Delta flight instead of an Alaska flight.

So two questions.

1. How can I actually go about doing this? Do I go to delta.com? Or an Expedia? Or something else?

2. What impact might this decision have if I'm MVP in terms of benefits. I believe it means that instead of a 48hr window for upgrade opportunity, I'm kind of limited to availability day of flight.

And when I say "I", I mean someone else. :)

Thanks!what city pairs? Is it a place AS only serves once a day? If not take another AS flight. If you book at DL you probably have to wait until 24 hours to upgrade. If you do it at a site like expedia or orbitz it should actually let you do it at 48 hours. They will give you a confirmation code for AS and DL. You then go to my trips, add the trip with the AS code and then request upgrades. If it doesnt let you on the AS site call the mvp desk and get added to the list. And FWIW the manifest will probably say DL operated by AS and will have identical departure and arrival times. Not very hard for corporate travel people to figure out. They know all about code shares and stuff. Just book the AS flight since you are trying to circumvent rules. How do you know that this flight has the maximum number of company pax on it already? If I was already trying to break rules Id just book the AS flight and pretend I had no clue that the max number had been reached??

This is a policy that has always cracked me up. Companies limit this to a half dozen or so on one flight yet they have no problem using a shuttle or van to haul around 15 or 20 employees at a time. Its been proven time and time again that the shuttle van is way more likely do crash and cause injury on the roadway than a jet is likely to crash and cause injuries

Actually, if you "add yourself to the list", what may happen is that the ticket will be voided and things will be screwed up at the airport. AA and DL don't consider AS U class to be a valid booking class and you can screw up your ticket.

The only safe place to get on the upgrade list is at the airport.

Also... won't the travel department notice a plane leaving at the exact same time between the exact same city pairs and realize what you're up to? Really, is a shot at a first class seat worth risking a reprimand or a job over?

Actually, if you "add yourself to the list", what may happen is that the ticket will be voided and things will be screwed up at the airport. AA and DL don't consider AS U class to be a valid booking class and you can screw up your ticket.

The only safe place to get on the upgrade list is at the airport.

Interesting. Ive done it plenty of times without issues. Am I just gambling or what ? :confused:

Actually, if you "add yourself to the list", what may happen is that the ticket will be voided and things will be screwed up at the airport. AA and DL don't consider AS U class to be a valid booking class and you can screw up your ticket.

The only safe place to get on the upgrade list is at the airport.


Interesting. Ive done it plenty of times without issues. Am I just gambling or what ? :confused:
Actually it's only AA that doesn't recognize U because it's not a valid revenue fare bucket for them. DL U is their next to lowest economy bucket. Only T is lower. If the upgrade were to clear before the airport has control of the record AA's system would completely cancel the segment and the ticket. The situation would not be as dire on a DL issued ticket since their system would think there was a change made to the ticket but the new U class would probably not match the ticketed fare class. It would only cause the record to fall out of sync but the segment would still be on the PNR but in an unconfirmed status. If the flight was overbooked you'd lose your seat for sure. If not you'd need to have an AS agent fix your PNR at the airport and they'd probably have to take you out of U to do that. Once changed from U back to your original fare class that U seat would most likely be snapped up by the next person on the airport waitlist so in the end by getting on the waitlist early you'd be potentially causing yourself a lot of unnecessary grief and would probably lose the upgrade in the process anyway.

Actually it's only AA that doesn't recognize U because it's not a valid fare bucket for them. DL U is their next to lowest economy bucket. Only T is lower. If the upgrade were to clear before the airport has control of the record AA's system would completely cancel the segment and the ticket. The situation would not be as dire on a DL issued ticket since their system would think there was a change made to the ticket but the new U class would probably not match the ticketed fare class. It would only cause the record to fall out of sync but the segment would still be on the PNR but in an unconfirmed status. If the flight was overbooked you'd lose your seat for sure. If not you'd need to have an AS agent fix your PNR at the airport and they'd probably have to take you out of U to do that. Once changed from U back to your original fare class that U seat would most likely be snapped up by the next person on the airport waitlist so in the end by getting on the waitlist early you'd be potentially causing yourself a lot of unnecessary grief and would probably lose the upgrade in the process anyway.Im assuming this is all IF you arent on an 027 ticket? Ive had several AS/AA codeshares where I used gold certificates and was placed in U class on my AS metal segments and had no problems. All my AS/AA flights when I did this were on AS 027 stock. As for with DL/NW Ive done it with either AS or their PNR stock and never had any issues. Which leads me to another issue. If AS and DL are going to work so close together they should come up with a universal fare class code. As a matter of fact the FAA should mandate a universal fare class code. The fare class code games get rather annoying LOL!

As a matter of fact the FAA should mandate a universal fare class code. The fare class code games get rather annoying LOL!

FAA? I doubt they'd give a rat's behind how many fare buckets any airline has or what letters they choose to represent them.

Anyway, fare class codes seem to be fairly consistent within alliances. CO just underwent a major overhaul of theirs to more closely match UA and the other *A partners. Since AS isn't in ST or OW but is partners with some members of both alliances it wouldn't be practical to re-work their fare class structure unless they had plans to more closely align themselves with one alliance.

FAA? I doubt they'd give a rat's behind how many fare buckets any airline has or what letters they choose to represent them.

just an idea
:D

I have had no problems with flying "U" on the AS segments with AA/DL/NW using gold certs. However, I have never ticketed it specifically on american.

I have had no problems with flying "U" on the AS segments with AA/DL/NW using gold certs. However, I have never ticketed it specifically on american.

Of course not. We are talking about tickets issued by other airlines (not 027...) where the AS flight number is a codeshare.

Actually, if you "add yourself to the list", what may happen is that the ticket will be voided and things will be screwed up at the airport. AA and DL don't consider AS U class to be a valid booking class and you can screw up your ticket.

So I have an eticket with "0012", booked on american, but it originates on AS metal. (routing: SEA-SNA-DFW-PIT) I called in with the alaska confirmation number and upgraded the alaska segment using a gold cert.

What you are saying is that when i get to SNA, im going to run into a crap load of problems. Will my american boarding passes simply not work once i get into SNA? Do you have any suggestions on how to rectify the issue in SNA?

he situation would not be as dire on a DL issued ticket since their system would think there was a change made to the ticket but the new U class would probably not match the ticketed fare class. It would only cause the record to fall out of sync but the segment would still be on the PNR but in an unconfirmed status.

This reminds me of a weird thing that happened on NWA for me last september where I upgraded the AS operated SEA-MSP segment for a NWA ticketed PNR with a gold cert. The only effect was that i was unconfirmed, and had to be "confirmed" to be put on the NWA upgrade list...and i got the upgrade too.

So I have an eticket with "0012", booked on american, but it originates on AS metal. (routing: SEA-SNA-DFW-PIT) I called in with the alaska confirmation number and upgraded the alaska segment using a gold cert.

What you are saying is that when i get to SNA, im going to run into a crap load of problems. Will my american boarding passes simply not work once i get into SNA? Do you have any suggestions on how to rectify the issue in SNA?



This reminds me of a weird thing that happened on NWA for me last september where I upgraded the AS operated SEA-MSP segment for a NWA ticketed PNR with a gold cert. The only effect was that i was unconfirmed, and had to be "confirmed" to be put on the NWA upgrade list...and i got the upgrade too.

:confused:

I thought 012 was NW ticket stock?

:confused:

I thought 012 was NW ticket stock?

But 001-2xxx-xxx-xxx is AA.

So I have an eticket with "0012", booked on american, but it originates on AS metal. (routing: SEA-SNA-DFW-PIT) I called in with the alaska confirmation number and upgraded the alaska segment using a gold cert.

What you are saying is that when i get to SNA, im going to run into a crap load of problems. Will my american boarding passes simply not work once i get into SNA? Do you have any suggestions on how to rectify the issue in SNA?

I would call AA ASAP and have them work on restoring your itinerary. Your downline segments may have already been canceled. As a result you'll probably lose the AS upgrade and they may need to actually call AS to get that segment back into the original fare class if it is no longer available.

But 001-2xxx-xxx-xxx is AA.


Ah... knew something sounded weird... ;)

Alaska flies nonstop between two city pairs that I need to travel for business. However, the company has a rule about how many company folks can be on any one flight at a time.

I think I can circumvent that rule if I book the flight using another carrier as the marketing carrier (say Delta), but making sure I'm flying Alaska metal. The manifest will say I'm on a Delta flight instead of an Alaska flight.

So two questions.

1. How can I actually go about doing this? Do I go to delta.com? Or an Expedia? Or something else?

2. What impact might this decision have if I'm MVP in terms of benefits. I believe it means that instead of a 48hr window for upgrade opportunity, I'm kind of limited to availability day of flight.

And when I say "I", I mean someone else. :)

Thanks!

Personally, I would be very reluctant to even consider doing what you are suggesting. If the people who track your travel have even the minimum experience with travel, they will pick this up immediately. First, it is a requirement than any itinerary generated by the airlines or a third party site state who the operator of the flight is directly on the itinerary. So a codeshare flight will say "operated by Alaska Airlines" or "operated by Horizon Air". In fact, even Horizon flights with an AS flight number have that notification.

Second, the flight times will be identical with AS flight times. How many cases do you know of where two different airlines operating two different flights between the same city pairs have identical flight times?

Good luck.:rolleyes:

Strangely, my itinerary (and well heeded warning from FT) has stirred up some interest, and I am told that what i am doing is permitted and tested.

So far, the AS part is good and the AA part is good. But this is expected as AA is going to keep everything cached until probably day of flight.

Even if crap does hit the fan in SNA, i find it hard to imagine that I would not be able to have an AA agent correct a system bug within 2 hours. There is no possible way they can deny the validity of the ticket i purchased because of an undocumented bug caused by their partner upgrading me to first class.

Strangely, my itinerary (and well heeded warning from FT) has stirred up some interest, and I am told that what i am doing is permitted and tested.

So far, the AS part is good and the AA part is good. But this is expected as AA is going to keep everything cached until probably day of flight.

Even if crap does hit the fan in SNA, i find it hard to imagine that I would not be able to have an AA agent correct a system bug within 2 hours. There is no possible way they can deny the validity of the ticket i purchased because of an undocumented bug caused by their partner upgrading me to first class.

On your AA itinerary does the AS flight show as a codeshare (AA flight number) or is it just listed with the AS flight number?

There is no possible way they can deny the validity of the ticket i purchased because of an undocumented bug caused by their partner upgrading me to first class.

It's not a bug, per se: it's that AA and AS have different meanings for "U" fare class, I was told. AS considers it upgraded Y, AA doesn't use it for that (and thus goes "hey, this ticket is broken" when they see it).

On your AA itinerary does the AS flight show as a codeshare (AA flight number) or is it just listed with the AS flight number?

It shows up as flight 6888 on american, Q class.

It's not a bug, per se: it's that AA and AS have different meanings for "U" fare class, I was told. AS considers it upgraded Y, AA doesn't use it for that (and thus goes "hey, this ticket is broken" when they see it).

hahaha, I can tell what line of work you are in .. "its not a bug, its a feature". :D Someone gets upgraded in a rare situation and is denied boarding on a connecting flight. Sounds like a bug to me.

Booking codes, fare class, etc. are unique to every airline. Sending arbitrary fare classes from one airline to the next under the hope that they will by chance mostly be compatible sounds like a shoddy implementation that is doomed to failure. If I know that, im certain those who wrote the sabre code are lightyears ahead of me.

That would also mean that boat loads of people booking american flights with alaska end destinations would never get on those flights ... as American has more booking classes/fare classes than Alaska.

Imagine someone flying paid F or booking international award travel in A, only to realize, oh whoops sorry, airline Z doesnt have those codes, so back in coach you go.

Obviously, they have to be translated.

If this is still an actual problem, I will deduce that is likely that U class isn't being translated to a coach bucket, and it should be fixed. This would also technically be an Alaska issue.

Anyway, i kind of hope you are right and I get "stuck" in SNA so the problem finally gets documented and rectified. Did you report this problem at all?

Anyway, i kind of hope you are right and I get "stuck" in SNA so the problem finally gets documented and rectified. Did you report this problem at all?

It really isn't a problem and will never be fixed and it's not just a simple matter of AS U class not mapping to an AA fare bucket. When an AS flight is booked as a codeshare, AA pays AS for that space at an extremely reduced rate. Lower than you and I could ever buy the ticket directly from AS. It is because AS is making so little on the codeshare space that they don't want you to be able to get an advanced confirmed complimentary upgrade to first and therefore agents shouldn't be processing upgrades on codeshare itineraries in the first place. Day of departure upgrades are processes through the system in an entirely different way since at about T-24 "control" of the AS portion of the PNR changes over to AS and any changes AS makes from that point onward aren't reflected on the AA PNR. The fact that the change on the AS PNR from the economy fare class to U triggers an error on AA's side of the equation is just a by-product of the process and causes problems if it's meddled with before AS has control.

hahaha, I can tell what line of work you are in .. "its not a bug, its a feature". Someone gets upgraded in a rare situation and is denied boarding on a connecting flight. Sounds like a bug to me.

No, AA's systems are supposed to reject tickets with bogus fare codes. They are operating as designed- U isn't a legitimate fare code for them. What you're experiencing is a limitation of the design that would require a new feature (AA's systems should understand U class on codeshares with AS = upgraded Y and not mark the ticket as being broken), not a bug.

Imagine someone flying paid F or booking international award travel in A, only to realize, oh whoops sorry, airline Z doesnt have those codes, so back in coach you go.

Guess what, this can actually happen. I've heard tales of pax where their fare class is first on one three-class airline (because they bought in some fare bucket like O or I), business class on another, and they get a downgrade to business class on the second airline. Oops.

Anyway, i kind of hope you are right and I get "stuck" in SNA so the problem finally gets documented and rectified. Did you report this problem at all?

When it occurred for me, yep, I got to call AA and get the ticket "fixed" when an AS upgrade hosed my itinerary on AA's side, along with having supervisors on the line (I imagine I could have waited to get to the airport had I not tried to do OLCI).

Look if knowing in advance that sitting in a F seat for a 2 hour flight (as opposed to going to the gate) is worth the potential hassle of fixing a ticket, Godspeed to you, sir.

Right, so let me just get on the phone now so I can have them downgrade me.
:rolleyes:

There's no BR in SNA anyway... i really have nothing else better to do.

This is an update on my SEA-SNA-DFW-PIT flight today. Its an american sold ticket (eticket 00123xxxxxxxx-xx) with alaska airlines doing the SEA-SNA bit ... with a gold cert applied to the SEA-SNA segment, since these things are going to expire soon, i figured id use it. Agent was perfectly fine with this. I made no recommended actions, and left this itinerary alone after upgrading. I did, however, have someone at Alaska look at it to make sure that it didn't all disappear around last week. I explained what i read on FT. They told me simply that there may have been bugs in the past, but they actually test for these exact scenarios and fix things that are broken.

Check in process was normal, was given boarding passes for the american segments in SEA. In SNA, they called me up to the american gate, asking if i would like to move to another row so they could fit a family together.

Doesn't sound like my ticket was cancelled like you doomsayers said :p and I was checked in all the way through. I have had much worse experiences with american in terms of connecting from Alaska from an Alaska ticketed flight.

Well, thanks for trying that out. I have a AS/DL itinerary going SEA-LAX-LAS that I could burn my last certificate on. Might try it myself soon.

Well, thanks for trying that out. I have a AS/DL itinerary going SEA-LAX-LAS that I could burn my last certificate on. Might try it myself soon.

I think this is good news...and im pretty sure i tested the exact AA issue people were complaining about.

I have applied a gold cert to a NWA ticketed flight with a SEA-MSP alaska segment mid year, so i know that works.

I just tried this on a DL itinerary (006/DL ticket stock, SEA-LAX-LAS, SEA-LAX operated by Alaska, LAX-LAS operated by NW). MVP Gold Desk said "sorry, can't upgrade it or put you on the waitlist, you have to wait until you get to the airport".

So it appears you MAY be able to be upgraded on a codeshare itinerary. Or you may not. (For that matter, 006/DL tickets might be handled differently than 012/DL tickets, as well as 001/AA tickets. Who knows.)

Hope it's not one of those "keep calling if you don't like the answer you get" deals.

there is a difference between AA selling you a codeshare flight, and selling you an AS flight on their stock. If its sold as an AS flight, then you can upgrade with the coupon.

there is a difference between AA selling you a codeshare flight, and selling you an AS flight on their stock. If its sold as an AS flight, then you can upgrade with the coupon.ah ok maybe thats why Im usually able to do it when using AA or DL because I always try to make sure the AS part is AS coded or when possible make them all show as AS flight XXX(operated by). Besides that the miles seem to post faster for some reason