Star Alliance out of alignment: Are United and US Airways fighting codeshare wars?
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While airline alliances were created for the primary benefit of the member airlines, they also promise benefits to the flying public, such as the ability to buy a wider range of codeshared flights. So why are US Airways and United Airlines refusing to sell each others’ flights?
Last night, I tried to reserve an itinerary, sold by US Airways, that involved a change of planes in Charlotte. Ideally, I wanted the final leg of my trip, from Charlotte to Chicago, to be the US-codeshared flight operated by United. The United flight’s time was more convenient, and I could sit in Economy Plus or even try my luck at burning an upgrade or two.
I knew from the timetables that the flight existed, that it carried a US Airways number (US Airways Flight US5909, operated by United Airlines as Flight UA569), and that it was available for sale on sites like Orbitz, at the same exact price as other itineraries that were wholly operated by US Airways.
But US Airways wouldn’t reserve the flight for me.
Here’s how it worked: I started by going online and searching for flights. US Airways’ website did not include a single flight that was operated by United in its search results. Not one. Neither as a US-labeled codeshare, nor as a UA-numbered flight.
So I tried United’s website. Their search engine lets you tick a box to “include Star Alliance flights” in the search results. But it only included some Star Alliance flights, and only ones that carried a United codeshare number. The list wasn’t exhaustive, either — not all codeshared flights were listed. And it didn’t include any flights that were sold under the US flight number.
In the past, I have been able to use United’s site to book flights on other Star Alliance carriers, usually as part of a mixed itinerary. That doesn’t appear to be consistently possible any more. The site’s help page for booking codeshares implies that it should still be possible to book Star Alliance and codeshare flights using their tool. But the options are severely restricted.
None of this would have been an issue if I had been ready to pull the trigger and purchase the ticket right then and there. I could have just gone to Orbitz and bought the flight, albeit with a $6 surcharge. But I wanted to put the flight on a 24-hour hold, and Orbitz doesn’t allow that. US Airways’ website doesn’t allow putting flights on hold, either (that’s a post for another day), so I picked up the phone and called them.
The phone agent couldn’t — or wouldn’t — reserve the flight I wanted. I gave them the flight number — US5909 — but the answer was no. “That flight is not available for purchase.” So I settled for a later flight, which leaves me more time to partake in the Charlotte Airport’s rocking chairs, barbeque stands, and North Carolina wine bar.
My experience doesn’t appear to be a complete fluke. I’ve seen this sort of thing before, but I’ve always assumed it was just a temporary glitch. After seeing this again and again, it seems deliberate. To give them one last benefit of the doubt, I just tried searching different itineraries (some domestic, some international) on both the United and the US Airways websites. US Airways excluded every United-operated option, every time. United’s website included some US Airways flights, but only if they carried a UA number. Other Star Alliance carriers, like Lufthansa, didn’t face the same discrimination.
My only conclusion: US Airways and United are no longer fully cooperating within the Star Alliance. It’s stupid, it’s annoying, and it irritates the consumer. Fix it.
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June 14th, 2007 at 3:55 pm |
It could be that US’s allotted inventory on the UA flight has already been sold, and that the agent didn’t explain that. Orbitz may have more of their inventory left, and therefore can’t sell you the flight when Orbitz can.
I would expect US to purchase less UA inventory on routes that they themselves serve frequently, and more on those they don’t. Many times travel agents book space on an LH-operated flight under a UA flight number when there’s no more LH space available. LH can also only sell UA-operated flights with LH marketing numbers in conjunction with a transatlantic flight (i.e. LH won’t sell FLL-IAD-FLL under LH flight numbers, but they will sell FLL-IAD-FRA-IAD-FLL).
I’m not positive that inventory management is the explanation, but it warrants some consideration. Keep up the interesting posts
June 14th, 2007 at 5:05 pm |
It sounds like normal inventory management to me. Many airlines have fares that are not valid on certain codeshare flights or only in limited numbers.
Just because US is willing to sell say Charlotte to Chicago on a UA codeshare flight, as a standalone flight (with higher fares) does not necessarily mean they are willing to sell the same flight as part of a larger itinerary (with lower fares).
In fact the same can be found even on non-codeshare flights (albeit less common within USA than elsewhere). Some fares may only be available on direct flights that have a transit stop, and not on a non-stop premium flight number.
Note, the example given by m for Lufthansa on Fort Lauderdale to Washington is slightly different. Lufthansa does not have traffic rights on domestic flights within USA. Hence they can only sell that Fort Lauderdale to Washington codeshare flight as part of an itinerary that includes a Lufthansa flight (which could be a codeshare) across the Atlantic. Clearly, this situation is different to the one in the blog entry.
June 14th, 2007 at 5:34 pm |
I totally have seen this too. While you can accumulate points/miles on Mileage Plus through booking on Star Alliance carriers, finding those flights on united.com is impossible. They don’t show USAirways (not sure across the board, but I haven’t seen it), they don’t show Air Canada, etc. So I end up using either Expedia (or other) or going direct to those other sites. I have had success in getting good fares and so far no issues on getting points credit, but still a hassle. Sigh….
June 14th, 2007 at 5:52 pm |
m and Global Traveller:
The inventory management explanation may be right, but I’m not sure that that’s what’s going on here. I’ve done some more testing, in light of your comments.
So I’m going to amend my remarks slightly:
For example, I tested the ORD-GSO (Chicago to Greensboro, North Carolina) route on usairways.com. I looked for flights next week, next month, several months ahead, and even into next year. Not one UA-operated flight came up at any price or in any class of service on any date. Both US and UA serve ORD and GSO.
Same thing for routes like IAD-PDX, ORD-EWR, PHX-LAX, BOS-FRA, and others. Both airlines operate the routes. UA-operated flights are viable, but never show up, on any date.
Then I tried routes were I knew US Airways doesn’t fly. SFO-ATW (San Francisco to Appleton, Wisconsin). US Airways doesn’t serve Appleton, but United does. Lo and behold, the codeshares come up on usairways.com. Plentifully. Sometimes the price was good, sometimes it wasn’t, but it was at least available.
Is that “inventory management”? Maybe, insofar as managers are zeroing out the inventory that’s operated by Star Alliance brethren.
But on shared city pairs, I don’t believe that US’s allocation of flights on UA is genuinely sold out — that implies it was for sale in the first place. “Zeroed” out, maybe. But not “sold” out.
I’m still convinced the fix is in on the shared routes.
(I should add that this last round of testing was just on usairways.com. If I had to test this on the slowpoke site united.com, I wouldn’t be done until next week. Slightly different issues at play on their site, anyway, as indicated in the original post. But I digress.)
How about a reader challenge? Find me a UA-operated flight for sale on USAirways.com, where US Airways actually themselves also flies to both the starting and the ending cities.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:21 pm |
Sometimes it’s worth paying the extra $6 to Orbitz. Orbitz will come up with multi-airline flight combinations that you can book. You possibly could have booked CLT-ORD as a United flight.
Airlines are no longer equipped to ticket multi-airline itineraries. This is one way in which a travel agency (Orbitz in this case) provides a valuable service related to flight bookings. And $6 is a bargain for the service. It would cost most flesh-and-blood travel agents $15 just to book the tickets which is part of the reason for $25-and-up booking fees for air.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:35 pm |
David,
Indeed, Orbitz could have booked it. But they couldn’t hold it. It was buy it, or nothing. As I mentioned in the original post, I needed to hold it at the time, and I wasn’t ready to buy it outright, so Orbitz or any of the online agencies wouldn’t have worked for me. I could have called a flesh-and-blood agent, such as the contracted firm with my employer, but it was too late at night to reach them when I learned I needed to reserve this trip. (Which has since been canceled, incidentally.)
But regarding this comment of yours:
How do you mean? I’ve booked plenty of mixed-airline itineraries via airlines, and this US/UA business has struck me as the exception, not the rule. Perhaps it becoming more widespread? Other examples?
June 14th, 2007 at 7:46 pm |
My counter to your example is that I have bookings on a UA codeshare on US flights on a route served by both airlines.
I do believe it is inventory management. With few exceptions (certain routes can have revenue sharing in place, such as between US and Germany by United and Lufthansa or between UK and Australia by Qantas and British Airways), it is in airline’s best interest to put passengers on their own metal on routes served by both own metal and codeshare.
If a customer is prepared to pay more, then sure book that codeshare.
By the way, this phenomenon is not unique to Star Alliance.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:56 pm |
GlobalTraveller: Did you purchase your flights on USAirways.com and/or directly from US Airways, and with US flight numbers? (If I understand correctly, you have UA flight numbers. Correct me if I am wrong.) If you have UA flight numbers, or if you bought US-numbered flights from someone other than directly from US Airways, such as via a travel agency, then your mixed-airline itinerary doesn’t disprove my thesis. My hypothesis is that the airlines themselves are limiting sales of each others’ flights. In particular, US Airways appears to be blocking sales of UA-operated flights. I am NOT arguing that it’s impossible to buy a mixed itinerary.
June 14th, 2007 at 9:10 pm |
Mark… how could you not like partaking in the famous Charlotte rocking chairs overlooking RJ’s and B733’s?
June 14th, 2007 at 9:20 pm |
Who says I don’t enjoy them?
If my trip hadn’t been cancelled, I’d probably be sitting there, dripping BBQ sauce onto my shirt.
Mmmm… BBQ…
I think the rocking chairs are cute. I just prefer to choose just how long I need spend in the airport, rocking in them.
June 15th, 2007 at 12:46 am |
You are right in that my circumstances are not exactly identical to yours. I should have called it yield management rather than inventory management above, apologies for confusing the issue slightly.
My points remain valid (I think) - that US is just trying to maximise it’s return and this kind of “blocking” is normal in situations where 2 airlines codeshare each other on the same route but do not have a revenue sharing agreement.
June 15th, 2007 at 9:22 am |
UA also intentionally blocks LH transatlantic awards.
June 15th, 2007 at 9:39 am |
Yes. Star Alliance awards cooperation is broken too. My friends in Japan who use their ANA points never have trouble booking flights. For example, I’m under the impression that UA blocks Singapore Airlines flights. Both cash fares and awards. UA won’t let me book the flight, but my friends in Japan can. Irritating. And to the person who said that this isn’t just star Alliance, my booking experience with OneWorld has been better. At least more consistent.
June 15th, 2007 at 10:08 am |
Ok, so I think we’re on the same page, and that, regardless of the label used, we both perceive intentional “blocking” of partner flights available for sale.
Your suggestion that this is “normal in situations where 2 airlines codeshare each other on the same route but do not have a revenue sharing agreement” may also be the new reality, but it hasn’t always been this way. Perhaps that, in a nutshell, is my point.
And if the airlines won’t sell each others’ inventory, but travel agencies will, then score one for the agencies. Perhaps that is the practical takeaway.
June 15th, 2007 at 10:12 am |
The variation in award inventory across Star Alliance partners is a slightly different issue, but it falls under the same heading of intra-alliance inconsistency.
Japan’s ANA has an online tool that lets you check Star Alliance award availability, if you’re an ANA program member. But seeing availability on, say, Lufthansa award tickets via the ANA system doesn’t mean that you can book the same Lufthansa flights with your United miles (or any other Star Alliance program’s miles, for that matter.)
That sort of inconsistency is maddening. Inconsistency is one of the biggest reasons people hate the airlines. You’d think they’d realize that.
June 18th, 2007 at 11:50 am |
This post hit FlyerTalk this morning. In the discussion, someone there is spreading the rumor that US/UA codeshares are ending, which sounds like BS.
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=705155
June 21st, 2007 at 11:37 pm |
[…] the difficulties in reserving a mixed US Airways-United itinerary on either airline’s website last week, I contacted the two airlines about their codesharing policies, looking for some clarification. […]
August 20th, 2007 at 11:03 pm |
Interesting thread and interesting to watch and theorize on the US-UA relationship within the Star Alliance. One is the big guy, global player and founding member, the other adds some partner value with its Northeast, Southeast and Caribbean destinations and is growing its Star partnerships and code shares. As a frequent flier member of both programs (Mileage Plus and Dividend Miles) I have had no problem booking code share flights directly with the airline which I find on Orbitz and are not available at us.com or ua.com (I may be in the minority). I simply ask the agent to waive the fee as these flights were not available on their respective websites…I usually get a sigh or laugh…and then a “you’re right, our website stinks” :> I have not experienced agents at either US or UA indicating no availability like the OP.
September 10th, 2007 at 6:59 am |
[…] move to North Carolina, perhaps. Hard to avoid US Airways in these parts. But having previously observed that United-US Airways codesharing and cooperation aren’t living up to their hype, I’m […]