United flight Washington to Madrid operated by Aer Lingus

United Airlines yesterday announced one of the oddest airline codeshare arrangements I've come across. They intend launching a Washington to Madrid flight, but it will be operated by Aer Lingus (thanks to Open Skies the flight does not need to start or end in Ireland). Source United.

So we have a full service airline that is struggling with yields in charge of revenue, and a low cost airline that slashes costs in charge of operations, starting a thin route against an entrenched competitor (Iberia) in a time of a recession. That sounds like a recipe for terrible service and a financial disaster.

The Cranky Flier has given a good explanation of why this is not a good idea for the airlines (except for Ryan Air!). Assuming it gets off the ground, I also think it is a bad idea for customers.

Aer Lingus, some may recall, left the Oneworld alliance in order to reduce costs and concentrate on being a low cost airline. United markets itself as a full service airline, although of course it fails to reach the standards of the best full service airlines. For United customers on the flight (some passengers will be Aer Lingus customers having bought the flight directly through Aer Lingus) the service will likely be less than they expect, although a newer aircraft perhaps even with IFE may offset that. I bet there will not be freely available upgrades to United Mileage Plus elite members. In case of operational problems (such as delays or cancellations), customers will need to deal with Aer Lingus. I have no direct experience dealing with their call centre, but with a focus on saving costs I do not have high expectations. There are a lot of things wrong with United, but that at least have good proactive customer service during irrops or dealing with misconnections.

For a laugh, check out the quote by Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion (bolding mine).

"... We are very excited by the potential of the Partnership and believe
that the unique combination of two leading transatlantic
airlines can drive significant value for the shareholders of both
companies."

I think he got one bit right - it is a unique combination.

No frills alliance

Aer Lingus and JetBlue have announced what they call a ticket-booking alliance. As Upgrade : Travel Better notes, it isn't much compared to the traditional big three alliances (One World, Sky Team and Star Alliance).

However it is a start, and I think a first for what has been whispered for a while now - an alliance between low cost carriers. The traditional alliances are expensive (indeed that is the reason Aer Lingus is leaving One World 31 March 2007). So I wonder what might a no frills alliance look like?

• codeshares - eventually in order to most easily expand the destinations reached by an airline, otherwise there is little point in having an alliance
• frequent flyer status benefits - forget about it, no low cost airline has frequent flyer status recognition
• frequent flyer mileage accrual on partner flights - I suspect not since not all no frills airlines have a frequent flyer program, but could work on the codeshares
• frequent flyer mileage redemption on partner flights - again only on the codeshares
• aligned flight schedules - probably only between hubs rather than other points served by networks due to the low cost airlines' desire for maximum flexibility for their own operations
• aligned network - yes as this lowers the cost of serving remote or small destinations
• joint marketing and promotions - no
• interlined baggage (ie checked through when connecting to another airline) - while this would be great for passengers, I can only see this happening for the few low cost airlines that already provide interline baggage

What do you think?

Codeshares

I was recently asked a question about codeshares by a reader of Condé Naste Traveler. One of the things I mentioned in my reply through The Perrin Post column was the importance of knowing the operating airline. It is the operating airline that you deal with for checking in, bags, transfers, etc. The codeshare airline is of no help and may use a different terminal or not even operate out of that airport. Some airports will only announce over the PA or on departure screens the operating airline's flight, not the codeshares (with some flights having 8 or more codeshares who can blame them?).

So how do you know the operating airline? Your travel agent or airline should include the operating airline (and preferably also the operating airline's flight number) in your itinerary. If they haven't then you can use this tool on OAG's website to find the operating airline (eg QF 301 is operated by British Airways). Unfortunately OAG hasn't included the operating airline's flight number, so I'd suggest a second step and look up the airline schedule for the operating airline for your route. OAG has a listing of most airlines' websites.

An easier way (with some interpretation required) is to use Executive Travel Skyguide's free flight search - enter the departure city, arrival city, and date. It will return all the flight options. Your flight, being a codeshare should have an asterisk to indicate the codeshare. Then check the listing immediately above and below that listing for an entry that matches the arrival and departure times (and transit point if relevant). In my example I can see for Bangkok to London Heathrow that QF301 is a codeshare matching operating flight number 10 by British Airways (BA10). Don't worry about matching the aircraft type since the coding used by airlines is not 100% consistent - in this example Qantas uses 744 and British Airways 747. Trust me it is the same aircraft!