Originally Posted by
canadiancow
You don't have to look beyond the AC forum to know that's not true.
Getting Aeroplan to do anything other than open AC space is virtually impossible. They'll waive YQ. They'll waive MPM. They'll waive the max 2 (now 1) stopover limit. Heck, when THEY screw up, they'll even buy you revenue space to get you back on the same flight. None of those have ever required me to say more than "hey these flights (with X/I/O space) would work for me".
But force open space on OAL? It's like pulling teeth, and rarely happens.
Someone's always at fault if a previously valid reservation is broken/changed. Whether NH has to 'buy' AC rev inventory and then merely bill AC for it, or whether NH just submits the desired changes to AC with the notation that they were necessitated due to an AC-initiated schedule change -- that's all back-end stuff, and as you say, passengers need not really concern themselves with the particulars, whether any money really changes hands or is just notionally accounted for and netted out between the carriers as they serve their respective customers.