In a message dated 11/8/03 7:27:47 PM Pacific Standard Time, mmontano@xxxxxxxxx writes: > > > > Code share and the existing of an 'alliance' are for the most part > unrelated. > > Code-share involves one airline, in this case United, buying seats from > Mexicana and reselling them with a United flight number. > > The current arrangement of alliances are more complex arrangements, but > involve things like: > > - common use of ground-staff at small destinations > - schedule synchronization for connecting flights, especially through > hubs > - frequent flier plan 'inter-connections' > - treating alliance partner segments "favourably" for airfare > calculations. > > Many American airlines are ending the practice of reselling seats on > foreign airlines for the reason of US consumer protection laws. United, > as a US corporation, becomes the 'vendor of record' when it comes to > the a United flight number on a Mexicana plane and therefore becomes > liable for any damages, and responsible for Mexicana's compliance with > all forms of US safety, tax, labour laws in the execution of the > flight. > > I'm not certain of the precise numbers, but Delta Airlines suffered > more financial impact from the Swiss Air 111 crash than Swiss Air due > to law-suits launched against them re: the 53 seats sold by Delta on > the ill-fated flight. > > Previously, having a United flight # on another carrier's flight is no > longer carrying the illusion which existed. Or at least they will > realize it when they are told to check in at the Air Canada desk and > the plane is white and the service is questionable vs. a grey plane and > slightly upgraded service. > Last I checked, code-share arrangements are the rule, rather than the exception when a new carrier enters an alliance and they exist as those carriers belong to that alliance. I.E. CO dropping the HP deal because they knew their future with the NW-DL deal. Additionally, if the thing about international carriers is true, why would UA sell seats on LH flights, SQ flights, or Thai flights? What if someone who bought a seat on Thai from UA caught SARS? That would probably not be a good thing for UA, yet they still sell tickets on that airline.