Readers of this blog and, indeed, any frequent traveler, already know that airline code-shares are at best an inexact science from a customer-service point of view.
The biggest problem I normally encountered for clients is airlines simply not being able to find reservations and electronic tickets in their jumbled central reservation systems. But, there are a host of smaller annoyances, as some clients found out last week.
The couple in question had roundtrip tickets to Rome from San Francisco, booked as Lufthansa flights. These were for the most part code-share flights. The only flights actually operated by Lufthansa were the roundtrip flights from Frankfurt to Rome and back; the San Francisco-Frankfurt flights were on United.
Since one of my clients was a Premier level flier, this was an added reason to have booked the flights in the first place, since it meant Economy Plus, and United doesn’t charge Premier and above fliers for a second bag on international flights. (A necessity since they were flying to a 10-day cruise.)
Of course, in a perfect world, I would have booked the ticket without code-shares, but it was hundreds of dollars less for each flight to book all four flights as Lufthansa. A quirk of code-shares is that the same flights booked differently often have different prices.
Other than an initial hassle with United finding the electronic ticket on the way out (which I fixed by called the web hotline the day before), the flights and the connection were fine.
Then there was the baggage issue. While United cheerfully checked three bags total for them to Rome, Lufthansa demanded €60 (almost US$90) for the third bag on the way home.
When the Premier client protested and showed his card, the agent told him that only Gold status (Executive Premier) fliers with United would have the fee for an extra bag waived.
Ditto, when he said, well, it’s United for the long flight, so shouldn’t it at least be a smaller fee, their response was that it didn’t matter, it was 60 Euros whether it’s Lufthansa the whole way or not.
Sure enough, when he got home and I double checked with Lufthansa’s sales office, that is indeed the policy. As the originating carrier, they could charge whatever they wanted.
I’m not sure what Lufthansa would have done had the ticket had been completely booked as United flights, but still operated by Lufthansa within Europe.
When I called a few times, I got differing answers on that one, and no doubt, passengers probably get different answers the airport. Though, I believe, technically, if the ticket says a United flight, the airport agent should follow United’s rules.
In this case, while annoying, the client was able to pay the difference, and it still was a better deal than having booked the ticket as United in any case. Had they had more bags, or been out of money (which can happen at the end of a trip), it could have been a real mess.
Baggage rules change constantly, so there’s no certain advice I can give here, except that, again, all things being equal, try to avoid code-shares when possible, and for elites, try to book on the carrier where you have status as opposed to a partner.
In addition, if you are considering bringing a lot of baggage, it may be worth a call to your ticketed carrier to find out the exact rules. With fees approaching and at time exceeding the $100 a bag mark, forewarned is forearmed.
It also might make you reconsider whether it’s worth bringing a few of those extra clothes or pairs of shoes.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
