What’s a ticket agreement? Airline Jargon 101 and why you should care

The travel industry has a lot of jargon. Minimum connecting time, downline space, decision, FLIFO, just for starters.

And some of this stuff may not matter to anyone outside of the industry. But some of it can make the difference between a successful trip and travel from hell.

So over the next few months, I will try to explain some of the terms that might be useful to tripso.com readers. Or at least amusing. Consider it Airline Jargon 101.

Number one is ticket agreements.

A ticketing agreement – also known as an interline agreement – means that two carriers agree to accept each other’s tickets. It also means the carriers will generally allow you to check baggage on connections between their flights.

A ticket agreement also means that more than one airline’s flights can be put on the same ticket. Although within the U.S. I personally try to avoid doing this, as it can make it more difficult for any ticket changes.

On international trips a ticket agreement can be particularly important because airlines may have “joint fares” — i.e. one fare to a destination involving more than one carrier. Ticket agreements also can mean that a travel agent can ticket a smaller carrier with no U.S. presence, if they have agreements with the larger international carrier.

Now, accepting another airline’s ticket doesn’t necessarily mean that will always happen. If you are booked on American Airlines, for example, and want to get on an earlier Delta flight, you cannot just show up and assume you can use the original ticket.

In fact, with e-tickets, American Airlines would generally have to give approval and “send” the ticket electronically over to Delta. With a full-fare ticket, they should do that. With a discount fare, unless there is a problem with the flight, you are generally stuck with your original carrier.

But if there IS a problem with the flight … well … that’s when this ticket agreement stuff can matter. A lot.

On a recent flight to Las Vegas, our United flight was over three hours later. Because United has a ticketing agreement with US Airways, they were able to let us change to a US Air flight that got us in only half an hour later than scheduled.

But while Southwest had an open flight that was even earlier, that airline was not an option. Because Southwest doesn’t have ticket agreements with anyone.

The other carriers in the U.S. that don’t have ticket agreements with anyone else at this point are Virgin America, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines,and Allegiant Air. (Airtran has limited agreements, with United, Frontier and US Airways.)

Changing between carriers can become even more important on a bad weather day, or just a missed connection with a mechanical problem. Airlines may or may not offer the option, but proactive (and polite) travelers can usually get them to make the switch.

When an airport is completely shut down due to weather issues, airlines routinely send travelers to each other, figuring they will need the reciprocity later.

However, if you are flying on one of the airlines with no ticket agreements, and there is a canceled or delayed flight, you are going to wait until the first plane departs or hope they have another one. Or you have to buy a new ticket, and try to get a refund on the original.

If you decide to go for the refund option, get anything you can in writing, because calling or writing later and saying you didn’t take the flight can be difficult, especially if the first flight was only delayed and not canceled.

Now, with an large airline like Southwest, there are usually alternatives for flight changes. With a smaller carrier that only has a few flights a day between two cities, your options are limited.

Regarding baggage, most travel agents will not book connections between carriers without agreements unless there are no alternatives. Having to claim and recheck your luggage just means one more thing that can go wrong.

Also, sometimes for do-it-yourself travelers, a connecting option between say, JetBlue and United might look like a good idea, and indeed it might be a good fare. Just allow plenty of time.

In fact, in general, having a ticket on a low-fare carrier may well be worth the added risk. Especially if they are considerably cheaper or have the only good schedule when you want to travel.

And many travelers report liking the different “attitude” on carriers like JetBlue and Virgin America. Just be aware, that attitude alone won’t help you if the flight is canceled.

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