Have you ever encountered a situation where you thought you booked and purchased your airline ticket on one airline only to find out at the airport that the flight was being operated by a different airline all together?
Well it's a practice called code share. Since the majority of airlines have limited network reach globally. One way they can expand that global reach and offer more routes to their customers is through partnerships and codesharing with other airlines.
For example lets say you want to fly from Dallas to Karachi in Pakistan and you are an American Airlines frequent flyer and want to book that route on American Airlines, so that you can accrue miles on the AAdvantage program and you can book it on AA.com directly for the cheapest fare.
The challenge is that American Airlines does not it self fly from DFW to Karachi, but what it does do is partner with Qatar Airways (QR) through codeshare. In fact AA does not even operate from Dallas DFW to Doha, Qatar which is the Qatar Airways hub. The codesharing allows American to place an AA code or flight number on the flight operated by Qatar airways. For all intents and purposes when you are booking this route on AA.com, you will be provided with an American Airlines flight number.
Using this codeshare technique American can leverage Qatar Airways strong network from Doha to the Middle east, Asia and far East etc and market those QR flights as American Airlines, but these are indeed sold as American, but operated by Qatar Airways.
You can book those same AA flights on Qatar Airways website, however it will show up a QR flight number not AA, because the marketing airline and the operating airline (QR) is the same.
There are a couple of indicators the flight is a code share. For the not so savvy traveller, there is a disclaimer under the flight number to show the Operating carrier.
In the example above (left image) the flight number AA8130 there is an "Operated by" disclosure. This disclosure is mandated by the US Department of Transportation which clearly states and has enforced diligently.
"Written notice of code-share service is also required where an itinerary is issued. (Section 257.5(c)(1)) In printed advertisements, including those published via a website, the code-share relationship must be “prominently” disclosed and an abbreviated notice must be included in any radio or television advertisement." - sourced from DOT
The second indicator for the more savvy traveller is that airlines such as American Airlines typically use high flight number designations for codeshare flights. In this example code share with Qatar airways are allocated a number > 8000.
So now you know that airlines try to offer an expanded route network to their customers by partnering and codesharing with other partner airlines. There is a mutual revenue benefit for both airlines. American gets to profit from the customer even though the customer is traveling on a flight operated by Qatar Airways.
So are there any benefits for the customer of codeshares?
- one we already talked about, which is access to a much bigger global route network though partners
- Seamless booking process. Rather than having to booking on separate airlines. You can book the whole journey on the marketing carrier. In the example above. No need to book on Qatar airways web site when you can do so on AA.com and accrue miles/points.
- Seamless also applies to the the whole check-in and transfers experience where bags can be through checked to final destination
- Frequent flyer tier status recognition on codeshare partners is also an important benefit
Travel Tip:
Before you book always check who the Operating carrier is going to be. This information is always disclosed on the booking sites, or through your travel agent. Not knowing may impact things like checked-bag policies, boarding priorities, seat and meal options. Make informed decisions and avoid disappointments by being informed about the operating carrier.
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