Originally Posted by
LAXative
It does have some bearing on how flexible a GA may be on what they would do. Once on a MAN-LHR segment, I wanted to take an earlier flight (AA 001 stock, BA metal of course). The comment was that while my fare didn't allow standby, she normally would have just exchanged my ticket for the early flight anyway had it been on BA stock, but since it was AA's stock she couldn't/wouldn't do anything for me. YMMV
Actually she could....if she was trained/or wanted to. On day of departure, operating airline has control of that flight coupon. They could have just booked you on the new flight without having to exchange it (or just issue a new ticket on BA stock and submit the original flight coupon to AA for settlement as they normally do).
The plating carrier (AA in this instance) doesn't care how the other airline is going to fulfill transportation. The only involvement AA has at this point is paying the ticketed airline when that coupon is submitted for settlement.
For example, if the flight coupon is for HKG-PVG on CX123 and CX ends up sending the passenger on another CX flight (or another airline for that matter), AA still pays CX as indicated on the flight coupon.