ibrandsguest

I was pleasantly surprised today when American Airlines booked a family member in first class on United for a 2-hour domestic flight. The family member had booked a first-class award ticket (i.e., with miles, not cash) on American, so I thought that it was very generous of American to do that--even thought the American flight was cancelled and the family member arrived 8 hours late.

The United walkup fare, bookable online a few hours before the flight, was $1500; the coach fare was $407.

How much would American have paid for that first class seat?

Thanks.

airplanegod

Somebody with more experience with this or someone who works for an airline can chime in, but I am under the impression that DL and UA, AA and UA, and UA and AA/DL have agreements with each other and have some sort of reimbursement. AA and DL no longer have an agreement because DL kept on getting the short end of the stick.

Kagehitokiri

its probably variable based on certain factors

ive seen what starwood pays hotels for awards, and they have published that when nearly sold out, they will pay ADR

TravelerMSY

it will be either a huge full-fare or the exact amount of your ticket, depending on which interline process they use to rebook you and the agreements between the carriers.

Search for 120.20 or Flight Interruption Manifest and there are a few old threads about it here.

sbm12

Or, more commonly, a negotiated and discounted rate from the full fare number.

DL and AA no longer allow for such interline deals because DL wanted to raise the rates AA was paying. Everything can be negotiated.

WHBM

What you commonly find with such inter-airline deals is that they work both ways, and when netted off at the end of an accounting period there is not much in it. Don't know about the US, but am aware of past arrangements between BA and British Midland when both used to do London to Glasgow/Edinburgh etc, and the number of passengers (and also freight) passed each way could sort of balance out and few funds flowed either way.

When the no-reservation, guaranteed seat Shuttle was on these routes, BA would sometimes pass a few across to the next BMA instead of running a backup (it helped they were on adjacent stands), while when visibility was marginal and BMA were below minimums BA, with Autoland, would reciprocate. In the bar after the shift end, the ops personnel from each side who arranged all this were generally the best of friends.