Condor/Etihad codeshare seat reservation chaos
Etihad and Condor have a cooperation with codeshare flights since a few months. I booked via Etihad the itinerary HAN-AUH-FRA return BC Comfort which grants free seat reservation. The flights AUH-FRA rt are operated by Condor. Via Etihad I could only reserve seats for their flights. They told me that Condor uses the same booking reference and that I should reserve my seats with them. Condor then told me that they cannot see the booking in their system. I came back to Etihad with this and they told me to wait until closer to the flight date or after online check-in opens. Moreover they can’t do anything and I would have to sort it out with Condor. Now guess what Condor still keeps telling me that the booking is not in their system:-) This cooperation seems to have some flaws. How will Condor monitor reserved seats for their flights if they don’t get timely (immediate) information from Etihad? How can Etihad sell Condor seats if they don’t now anything about availability? I don’t get these loose ends together. Any ideas how this will work?
To avoid misunderstandings: I booked well before the Iran conflict. I acknowledge that they have more serious problems right now but as I said the issue is older than the current conflict.