As a follow on to my previous post yesterday, I have been looking for AA codeshares in Asia. I can find some e.g. AA 8486 from BKK to HND operated by JAL. Can these codeshares be used if they are not immediately followed/preceded by a trans-pacific flight. I'm not sure if they are available independantly or if the agreement between AA and JAL is to allow more destinations to/from US and hence carry additional constraints on usage.
So far I've found AA codeshares with JAL/Cathay for BKK, SIN, CGK, ICN, SGN and DPS but nothing in Australia or NZ
Codeshare flights can have traffic restrictions attached to them. Unfortunately I can't look up your specific example because I only have access to ExpertFlyer (not a GDS) and EF doesn't appear to be able to show traffic restriction codes for AA-marketed flights, but it's not uncommon for codeshares to be coded Q ("INTL ONLINE CONNECTING OR STOPOVR TRAFFIC ONLY"). For example, here's AY5096 (operated by CX134):
Code:
DOAY5096/10FEB
*1A PLANNED FLIGHT INFO* AY5096 1 TU 10FEB26
APT ARR DY DEP DY CLASS/MEAL EQP GRND EFT TTL
MEL 0840 TU JCDRIWETPYB/M 359 9:15
HKMLVSNQO/M
HKG 1455 TU 9:15
COMMENTS-
1.MEL HKG - COMMERCIAL DUPLICATE - OPERATED BY
CATHAY PACIFIC
2.MEL HKG - AIRCRAFT OWNER CATHAY PACIFIC
3.MEL HKG - COCKPIT CREW CATHAY PACIFIC
4.MEL HKG - CABIN CREW CATHAY PACIFIC
5.ENTIRE FLT- Q/ INTL ONLINE CONNECTING OR STOPOVR TRAFFIC ONL
6.MEL HKG - OPERATIONAL LEG CX 0134
7.MEL HKG - DEPARTS TERMINAL 2
SW
As I understand it, Q means that both stopovers and transits are allowed but only if it's preceded or followed by an international flight marketed by the same airline.
Even then, your mileage may vary depending on the travel agent you're using (including the AA RTW desk) as they've definitely been happy to book me on Q-coded codeshares even though the "online" aspect wasn't true. Conversely, I've had the rates desk change some unrestricted codeshares to the prime code for seemingly no reason. 🤷🏼♂️ (No those were not AA-operated flights)