firespirit

I fly out of SEA all the time and there are a lot of codeshares to california with alaska because AA doesn't fly there directly (technically there are routes through dallas and other cities). Alaska is opening new routes direct SEA-HNL. Right now though AA to book a SEA-HNL flight on aa.com it a codeshare SEA-LAX and then an AA flight LAX-HNL.

So how does AA decide what becomes codeshare?

a_fman

Pair of dice usually does the job

Gardyloo

I guess my (not very deep) knowledge on such things is that codeshares usually are arranged to mesh conveniently one way or the other with the shared airline's onward connections. Hard to see how this would work with AA, unless there are more redeye flights to/from SEA to AA destinations. Certainly no westward AA connections from HNL or LIH for AS to share.

OTOH AS does codeshare quite a few AS and QX flights with QF; maybe SYD-HNL-SEA on AS/QF flight nos. could be in the offing.

Doesn't matter anyway with respect to EQM/P earning, and no AA upgrades on AS metal, so hard to see the benefit of codeshares except for ticketing ease.

firespirit

Edited: I get it now... I guess the only advantage to me is I like ticketign though AA's site instead of alaska so I only have to go to one place to see my itineraries and not have to call them to get a new PNR.

nomore1k

aa.com will let you ticket AS flights without a code-share. Just select 'all airlines'. To prove this I selected SEA-PDX, non-stop and 'all airlines'. All the returns were AS/Horizon.

I have never personally done this, so I can't tell you if you will subsequently be able to view it under 'My Reservations', though.

Jacked

You can fly on virtually any AS flight and get Aadvantage credit so most of the time code-sharing isn't too big of an issue specifically for either Alaska Miles or AA Advantage passengers.

firespirit

Interesting. I might have to try this sometime. Thanks for the tip, I never paid attention to that...

nako

Actually, there are significant advantages to flying on one flight number over the other, depending on what program one belongs to. For an AAdvantage member, flying on the AA codeshare allows the Q-points earned to be used towards a challenge and gives elites the ability to pre-reserve exit row seats on discount coach fares -- neither of which are benefits that can be obtained by AA members flying on an AS-coded flight.

AS elites flying on an AS-coded flight, rather than the AA codeshare, also have the ability to obtain the exit row (as well as complimentary upgrades), and the mileage requirement status for AS miles (with regard to MVP/MVPG status) is a lower threshold than that required for non-AS (i.e. AA/DL/NW) miles.

Mike

drtdk

Usually after a coin toss is inconclusive.

SCChris

I did this once, when AA.com only offered me AS coded flights. You can view the reservation on 'My Reservations' but that is all you can do. You can't change seat assignments and it only shows the AA confirmation number. So if you wanted to do OLCI, then you would still have to call AS to get the AS confirmation number.

steve32

I just did some MRs with AA codeshares on AS flights, and while the flight info will show in My Reservations, you are NOT able to choose the seat online. Call it in and they will manually seat you (and you do get access to the exit rows).

Steve

nomore1k

To sum up what we've learned (and what we already knew):

AA Flight numbers/AS Metal:
-Can book on AA.com
-Can see in My reservations
-Can only get seats through AS.com (not premium seats) or AA on the phone (premium if you're eligible)
-Can only OLCI through AS.com and must first get AS Conf code
-Full EQM/EQP
-Counts towards a challenge

AS Flight numbers/AS Metal:
-Can book on AA.com
-Can see in My reservations
-Can only get seats through AS.com or AA or AS on the phone
-No premium seats
-Can only OLCI through AS.com and must first get AS Conf code
-Full EQM/EQP
-No challenge credit