Originally Posted by
garyschmitt
I don't normally check in with the operator. The flight is operated by SN, but in the past I think I have always checked in with the airline who issued the flight number. E.g. if flight LH123 is operated by SN, I will normally tend to check-in with Lufthansa. Are you saying I can check in with SN in this case? I would much rather prefer to do that, because it will likely be harder to convince LH to follow SN rules.
That's interesting that you've been able to check in with the ticketing airline and not the operating airline. In my experience, I've always been instructed by the ticketing airline to check in with the operating airline, since it's the operator's plane that I'm getting on.
And to answer some of your other definition questions- TATL=Transatlantic flight (TPAC would be a Transpacific flight). US flag carrier would be an airline headquartered in the US (ie United, American, etc). A British flag carrier would be an airline headquartered in the UK (like British Airways). The country that an airline is headquartered affects everything from taxes to where they can fly to what laws they must operate under. "Flag carrier" was originally a nautical term as it applied to ships which often flew the flag of their home countries and carried it to other points of the world.