What happened? This situation is one of basic definition of terms.
In this case, the passenger was a victim of a codeshare that fell through, versus an airline alliance. Those two terms are NOT interchangeable.
The way codeshares work is that one airline actually operates the flight, but one or more airlines can market and sell it.
That doesn’t mean the airlines are necessarily partners, but that they’ve agreed to coordinate on certain routes.
An alliance, on the other hand, is a more stable and integrated partnership. Alliance airlines usually codeshare, but the coordination goes further than that.
They may work together by sharing maintenance or operating facilities and staff.
Does that mean airlines don’t switch or drop alliances? Of course they do. But that kind of change usually comes with a lot of advance notice, whereas codeshares quietly come and go without a lot of fanfare.
Bottom line: those reward tickets are becoming harder and harder to redeem, so don’t let an error get in the way of your travels.
Get more help in the Mileage & Reward Programs section.
And get more of our Daily Travel Tips here.
