webrobby

One of my favorite travel blogs had this interesting story which hits home for me. I have noticed its a rare day when US let's me buy a UA ticket from them when US flies the same route on their stock. I don't disagree with this practice - it makes sense for the airlines to restrict this practice so they can increase revenue. However, when I try to fly United using a US city as my origin it's always a pain to have to use a TA or do the ticketing by phone.

interesting read:
Star Alliance out of Alignment: Are United and US Airways fighting a codeshare war?
While airline alliances were created for the primary benefit of the member airlines, they also promise benefits to the flying public, such as the ability to buy a wider range of codeshared flights. So why are US Airways and United Airlines refusing to sell each others’ flights?

Last night, I tried to reserve an itinerary, sold by US Airways, that involved a change of planes in Charlotte. Ideally, I wanted the final leg of my trip, from Charlotte to Chicago, to be the US-codeshared flight operated by United. The United flight’s time was more convenient, and I could sit in Economy Plus or even try my luck at burning an upgrade or two.

I knew from the timetables that the flight existed, that it carried a US Airways number (US Airways Flight US5909, operated by United Airlines as Flight UA569), and that it was available for sale on sites like Orbitz, at the same exact price as other itineraries that were wholly operated by US Airways.

But US Airways wouldn’t reserve the flight for me.

Here’s how it worked: I started by going online and searching for flights. US Airways’ website did not include a single flight that was operated by United in its search results. Not one. Neither as a US-labeled codeshare, nor as a UA-numbered flight.

So I tried United’s website. Their search engine lets you tick a box to “include Star Alliance flights” in the search results. But it only included some Star Alliance flights, and only ones that carried a United codeshare number. The list wasn’t exhaustive, either — not all codeshared flights were listed. And it didn’t include any flights that were sold under the US flight number.

In the past, I have been able to use United’s site to book flights on other Star Alliance carriers, usually as part of a mixed itinerary. That doesn’t appear to be consistently possible any more. The site’s help page for booking codeshares implies that it should still be possible to book Star Alliance and codeshare flights using their tool. But the options are severely restricted.

None of this would have been an issue if I had been ready to pull the trigger and purchase the ticket right then and there. I could have just gone to Orbitz and bought the flight, albeit with a $6 surcharge. But I wanted to put the flight on a 24-hour hold, and Orbitz doesn’t allow that. US Airways’ website doesn’t allow putting flights on hold, either (that’s a post for another day), so I picked up the phone and called them.

The phone agent couldn’t — or wouldn’t — reserve the flight I wanted. I gave them the flight number — US5909 — but the answer was no. “That flight is not available for purchase.” So I settled for a later flight, which leaves me more time to partake in the Charlotte Airport’s rocking chairs, barbeque stands, and North Carolina wine bar.

My experience doesn’t appear to be a complete fluke. I’ve seen this sort of thing before, but I’ve always assumed it was just a temporary glitch. After seeing this again and again, it seems deliberate. To give them one last benefit of the doubt, I just tried searching different itineraries (some domestic, some international) on both the United and the US Airways websites. US Airways excluded every United-operated option, every time. United’s website included some US Airways flights, but only if they carried a UA number. Other Star Alliance carriers, like Lufthansa, didn’t face the same discrimination.

My only conclusion: US Airways and United are no longer fully cooperating within the Star Alliance. It’s stupid, it’s annoying, and it irritates the consumer. Fix it.

me4yankees

It is my understanding that the codeshares between the two will be going away although it has not yet been announced. That is why US is not selling them.

DCAorBust

The author fails to consider the fact that the US/UA codeshare predates US's entry into *A. Accordingly, it's not that they're not playing nice within the *A. The *A doesn't require carriers to codeshare on all of their flights. That's up to the respective carriers based on their business models. The non-discrimination cited with LH undoubtedly has more to do with the fact that they're not competing with one another in the domestic market where US has lots of capacity and profit margins are very slim.

One important event in the US/UA relationship is the HP/US merger. The codeshare was a pre-merger effort between US & UA when US had a much smaller left coast foot print. The combined carrier has picked up all of the HP routes where it competes more directly with UA. This is a dramatic change in circumstances. Why would US send revenue over to UA when it's got empty seats on a couple of daily flights going into the same city?

Don't get me wrong, I liked the codeshares, and I'll miss them when they're gone (just my humble prediction there, I don't know for sure that they're going). Nonetheless, as long as US and UA remain in *A together, I can still bank the miles wherever I want, and just book the desired flights thru UA's booking channels and probably save myself some minor codeshare headaches in the process.

hoobly

Where did you get this understanding? I've heard nothing....

me4yankees

This is the reason for the speculation that the codeshares are ending. Your post is spot on.

me4yankees

FFOCUS received this info from one of our members (he received his info from someone he knows at US) and we have been discussing it in our forums since May 21.

cakobau

As the author of the blog that's cited in the first post of this thread, I thought you might be interested in the followup to this issue. US Airways verifies that there are codeshare problems, though not for the reasons theorized in the original blog post. They also suggest that they are working to fix these issues, not eliminate codeshares.

Full post here, including the verbatim correspondence from US Airways HQ.

KevAZ

Colonel Sherman T Potter from M*A*S*H said it best: "Horse Pucky"

Sorry, not directed at you - but at the person that laid this out on the rubber sheet and tried to serve it to you.

Thanks for sharing it with us in total. Those of us that understand what's really happening behind the IT Wizard of Oz curtain can only roll our eyes.

StSebastian

There was a post here a while back (but I don't have a link) where someone said they'd contacted US about this and were told they won't sell the UA codeshares until they'd sold sufficient numbers of their own flights (or maybe until their own flights were full). I may not like it, but it makes business sense IF you can make more flying your own plane than sharing the revenue with the other airline. From some previous disucssions, they may make more with the codeshare revenue than flying their own planes...

DCAorBust

I was looking for that post too. IIRC, the poster even had the flight numbers and routing in advance of the call (since a number of these routes don't even show up when the agent looks for them). I suspect that the agent probably was unable to book the reservation (computer system or insufficient training) and decided to make up a "reasonable" excuse as to why it couldn't be booked.

FLgrr

When I was last in CLT back in February, I remember talking to a USeless GA. She mentioned that these code share tickets are purchased so cheaply by the other. United is selling the same seat for less than USeless often (and the same the other way). She mentioned there were rumors USeless was trying (or maybe just hoping) to get out as they did not need a US partner anymore.

StSebastian

Well, with the lounge access surcharge for UA RCC, they definitely don't seem to be super-friendy. When I was flying US I would frequently find the UA codeshare for cheaper and book that, gambling that I'd still get the upgrade at the airport.