Originally Posted by moondog
i don't believe the relationship has changed.
codeshares often, if not usually, cost more than booking direct. this has been the case for as long as i can remember. moreover, bulk fares appear to be less common on codeshare flights. for example, while it is possible to book pvg-lax from shanghai, i've never encountered a single agent that offered a discount, whereas it is usually possible to buy the mu code for less than half of the lowest published fare.
Relationship has not changed and will be expanded In April 2006 with the new ORD - PVG. AA seems to want to get huge premiums going the ASIA on AA flight numbers vs many other alternatives to PVG that usually are much lower cost.