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).]

I have perused various FT airline forums (e.g., CO, AA, DL, NW, etc.) to see if this problem has occurred with other codeshare relationships. To the best of my knowledge, NO OTHER PARTNERSHIP (save CO/VS) has a problem with assigning seats if the passenger contacts the OPERATING carrier, especially once the reservation is ticketed.

That said, I'm thinking that maybe the AC agents are misunderstanding the nature of the request, especially if the passenger is quoting his or her UNITED flight number or PNR. If the AC reps. are given the AC flight number or record locator, they should have no problem in assigning a seat; if they are given the UA info., they will tell the customer to call United.

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Continental Airlines - One airline CAN make a difference.

In my experience - the only PNR you would have if you booked on UAL would be UAL's PNR. However it is true that Having done this several times, I find you need to use the AC flight #'s when requesting seat assignments on AC.HOWEVER it's also true that if UAL doesn;t assign the seats when you book online, it is like pulling teeth to get them from AC> My understanding is that once UAL's allotment of seats is gone, they can't even see other seats, and while AC can see the seats, they are VERY loath to give them out. So it may be non standard but it seems to be an across the board policy.

Whenever a codeshare reservation is created, TWO PNRs are created -- one on the ticketing carrier, and the other on the operating carrier. UA should have the AC PNR available; failing that, a sked search on Expedia will reveal the operating carrier's flight number, which can then be used to pull up the operating carrier's PNR.


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Continental Airlines - One airline CAN make a difference.

but you will have the AC flight # from the codeshare - - you don't need to go thru expedia etc. '
all I was trying to say is that it's not that AC can't SEE your rez, it's that they don't want to give you a seat assignment from their seats if the AC allotted seats to UA are filled. If they are not filled, UAL will give you the seat assignment when you book the flight.

Some more fuel for the fire of codesharing seat assignments...

1. I have booked a UA ticket containing a flight operated by US, and I did get a seat assignment at the time of booking. Interestingly enough, after checking in with UA, I had to check in with US to get the sole boarding pass for the flight operated by US.

2. I have booked a Delta ticket containing a flight operated by American Eagle, and I did get a seat assignment at the time of booking. E-tickets were not available for this type of codeshare, so I got paper tickets.

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"Where's my money?" -- Pizza the Hutt

UA/AC is apparently the ONLY known codeshare agreement in the world where one cannot call the operating carrier to obtain a seat assignment. While I have seen partnership agreements work in ridiculous ways before, this one is about to take the cake.

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Continental Airlines - One airline CAN make a difference.

QUACK!! QUACK!! QUACK!!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by UAEmployee (edited 09-08-2003).]

Ok then, name ONE other codeshare agreement that is bound by such ridiculous rules vis-a-vis seat assignments.


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Continental Airlines - One airline CAN make a difference.

I can't but my point was: Let it go for goodness' sake! You are right... always right Avek00... I am sure no other codeshare relationship in the great annals of codesharedom has ever been as awful in regard to seat selection as AC-UA.

With all due respect, YOU are the one that refuses to "let it go".

In any event, hopefully UA and AC will fix the problem in time.


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Continental Airlines - One airline CAN make a difference.

Gotta stop using those speedreading techniques-- thought this said something else.