Why is Codeshare So Complicated?
 

I went to ual.com and bought my dad a ticket to visit me...the flight turns out to be on Air Canada. i request seats for him and all of a sudden only 2 of the 4 legs have confirmed seats, but because it's an Air Canada flight, UAL can't help me book his seat assignment ("since it's not our plane sir, we have no ability to blah blah blah")and b/c it was purchased on ual.com, Air Canada can't do anything about it either ("sir you'll have to talk to the agent who booked the seat b/c those seats are codeshare blah blah blha"). Each airline makes me feel like it's my fault for purchasing a codeshare through this "agent" (read: united's own website), but the reality is, you buy the darned ticket that fits your schedule and have no idea what airline it'll be on. i find this incredibly frustrating. am i being naive or is this a problem for others?
thanks.

Meek,

This is a common problem.

I booked several flights this year which were code shares - one Lufthansa and the other Varig.

The good news was that I was able to get confirmed seats.

The bad news was that my seat confirmations were apparently tossed out the window - because I wound up in the middle.

Best thing to do is head for the airport much earlier and try and get something decent that way - or upgrade with miles.

I also had a codeshare problem, but in reverse. Booking on UA's website, and using a UA codeshare on LH in one direction (SFO-FRA) and returning on UA, I was IMMEDIATELY assigned seats on the LH segment. But seat assignments were unavailable on the UA return. I called several months later, and seats were still available. I showed up at FRA 3 hours ahead of time, and seats were still unavailable ("they will be assigned at the gate"). At the gate, seats were still unavailable ("we will call your name"). Finally, 45 minutes ahead of departure, seats were assigned (and they were good ones). But, how stressful can UA make this process....especially for a purchased ticket (not an award) and a transaction that started months earlier? Throughout the process, I was giving kudos to LH for being efficient, even though only a codeshare was involved on their end.

When booking a codeshare flight, I find out the flight number used by the OPERATING carrier and then call the operating carrier's reservations office with that info. to obtain a seat assignment. The ticketing carrier will not see the operating carrier's seat assignment in the record; this is not a problem as the computer will pull all the seat assignments over at check-in.

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Continental Airlines - One airline CAN make a difference.

This is not necessarily the case for all codeshares...

For which codeshares is this not the case? If the UA agent can perform through check-in with the operating carrier, then the operating seat assignments will pull over. And if the UA agent can't check the passenger through, then the customer will still have the seat assignments when checking in with the operating carrier.

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Continental Airlines - One airline CAN make a difference.

definitely not the case on my codeshare...i just got off the phonen with the AC reservations folks and they are handcuffed. i called united and they are handcuffed. it really sucks for us b/c my dad doesn't fly a lot, he's about 250 lbs (doesn't fit well in middle seats), my mom passed away this year and i wanted to bring him to visit us in california, so naturally, as it is promoted allover united's website "buy tix for friends/family from us and we'll make it ohhhhh sooooooo easy for you". yeah right. what a joke.

What I do know is that if a person on a UA flight number operated by AC requests a seat from me, I may not be able to get one because AC greatly limits the seats that UA can assign on their flight. Furthermore, if the same person calls AC, AC cannot do seat assignments on the PNR with the UA flight number on their aircraft (some kind of programmatic restriction)...I get this all the time.

Conversely, if a person has an AC flight number on a UA aircraft, if they request a seat, I see the PNR as booked (AC flight number operated by UA) yet I can still do seat assignments on that PNR.

thanks everyone. clearly there are a few kinks in the system that we just have to live with. oh well at least i get to fly E- from sfo-lhr on friday. groannnn.

It seems to me that this problem consistently exist with online bookings. When I book a code-share UA/LH/AC/RG/SQ/NH through my travel agent (using amadeus), whatever the operating carrier is, I never had any problems getting my seat assigned right away.

[This message has been edited by ACflyerDE (edited 09-06-2003).]

Hi meek

yes this is a problem. However I find if I keep calling AC and act humble, and explain that I am just trying to get a seat assigned and not for a "favor" I have always been able to get pre assigned seats . Explain that your dad doesn't fly much, yad a yada, yo're trying to make him comfortable etc. I have been successful in over 10 tries....

Also - A 2P rez agenr told me when I booked my SFO-LHR flights last month that by end of Q 1 next year, the plan is that USAir and AC will work much like LH w/ being albe to use miles, u/g'etc so I hope it workes the same way for seat assignments.

[This message has been edited by squeakr (edited 09-06-2003).]

If this is the case, then it is unique to UA-AC, as every codeshare itin. I've ever booked (including CO-AC back in the day) allowed me to call the operating carrier and request seat assignments from them.



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Continental Airlines - One airline CAN make a difference.

Of course it is... How could you be anything but 100% right all the time?

UAEmployee - perhaps avek00 is actually being accurate here??

Given his flying history, my guess he has done this ONCE in his life. That gives him a strike rate of 100% accuracy. Perhaps he phoned 18 United staffers to wear someone down to facilitate it?

But as always, I could be wrong with my Math. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Oz- I think you're probably right. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[This message has been edited by UAEmployee (edited 09-07-2003).]