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Code Sharing Quandry


Streblo
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So I'm about to book 2 x pax through Emirates website to fly from South Africa to USA and back as below: Outbound: 20/OCT/18 DUR -JNB SA550 / JNB - DXB EK764 / DXB - JFK EK201 / JFK - TPA B6225. Returning: 08/NOV/18 FLL -DBX EK214 / DBX - JNB EK767 / JNB - DUR SAA543 (the return leg has no issues). I'm happy with the quote, but I ask a TA friend to check to see if she can do any better. She does her thing and comes up R 7600.00 more expensive for the exact same flights. I ask why such a difference? She tells me it has to do with code sharing. The JFK-TPA leg is Jet Blue and should be an EK number: (EK6769, not B6225). She tries to explain that I have limited protection if I want to change my flights after booking. So, to my mind, I have to pay R 7 600.00 extra for that? My questions are: What benefit (in this case) will the extra R7 600.00 give me? If code sharing is such an issue, why are the SAA flights not code shared or more expensive through the TA? I called Emirates help line and they said that if I can get that price through their website, then good thing, but I must read the tariff conditions of each leg carefully. Sounded a bit ominous. But, they did confirm that this would be a 'through ticket right to the end' so I am confused as to how involved Emirates is. They do have a Jet Blue agreement (and SAA) and the operator said that the code share should be in effect even though the fights are listed as SAA & B6225 respectively. I'm hoping more seasoned travelers / TAs can guide me here. Do I pay the extra or should I not worry so much if I don't and book the website offer? My TA friend was doing a favour for me. She does not usually do the air travel thing but rather other forms of group cruise bookings etc. I didn't want to keep taking her away from her regular work to deal with my small needs

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I'm happy with the quote, but I ask a TA friend to check to see if she can do any better. She does her thing and comes up R 7600.00 more expensive for the exact same flights. I ask why such a difference? She tells me it has to do with code sharing. The JFK-TPA leg is Jet Blue and should be an EK number: (EK6769, not B6225). She tries to explain that I have limited protection if I want to change my flights after booking. So, to my mind, I have to pay R 7 600.00 extra for that? My questions are: What benefit (in this case) will the extra R7 600.00 give me? If code sharing is such an issue, why are the SAA flights not code shared or more expensive through the TA? I called Emirates help line and they said that if I can get that price through their website, then good thing, but I must read the tariff conditions of each leg carefully. Sounded a bit ominous. But, they did confirm that this would be a 'through ticket right to the end' so I am confused as to how involved Emirates is. They do have a Jet Blue agreement (and SAA) and the operator said that the code share should be in effect even though the fights are listed as SAA & B6225 respectively.
Unfortunately, the EK website won't show the fare rules for the routing on a B6 flight number, ITA won't price an itinerary including a B6 flight number on the JFK-TPA flight, the EK website suggests that the fare difference between using the B6 flight number and the EK flight number on that flight is only ZAR2,690 (or ZAR5,380 for two), and ITA won't come up with the same price as the EK website for the itinerary using the EK flight number on that flight. So I can't reproduce all of what you've been shown, and I can't see what fares are being used by each channel.

 

However, what I have been able to reproduce suggests that the routing using the EK flight number on the JFK-TPA flight may be priced using EK fares from JNB to TPA and from FLL to JNB, together with add-on SA fares for the domestics within ZA. If that is right, then the change rules for the domestics within ZA will be different from the change rules for the JNB-DXB-JFK-TPA and FLL-DXB-JNB sectors.

 

On that basis, my surmise is that the price offered by the EK website for using the B6 flight number on the JFK-TPA flight is a combination of:-

  • an SA fare for DUR-JNB
  • an EK fare for JNB-DXB-JFK
  • a B6 fare for JFK-TPA
  • an EK fare for FLL-DXB-JNB
  • an SA fare for JNB-DUR

I would also surmise that if you buy the EK code on JFK-TPA, the fare used is an EK fare for JNB-DXB-JFK-TPA with no B6 fare involved at all.

 

It isn't extraordinary to have various different fares combined onto one ticket like this, and the whole IATA interline system is designed to accommodate this sort of thing, even though it won't be commonly seen.

 

So far as the actual process of flying is concerned, I suspect that you will find that it makes practically zero difference whether you buy the EK flight number or the B6 flight number. In both cases, when you arrive at JFK T4, you will have to clear US immigration, collect your bags and clear customs. I don't know if there is a point there at which you can hand your bags to B6, but I suspect that you will have to take them over to T5 yourself. Then you check in there with B6. If your bags are through-tagged to TPA, they will have B6225 on them regardless of whether you bought the EK flight number or the B6 flight number; if you get new bag tags at JFK they will say B6225 regardless; and your boarding passes for JFK-TPA will say B6225 regardless. If you misconnect at JFK, because you're on a through ticket you should be protected in the usual way by being reaccommodated on another flight.

 

So, what is the difference? In a sense, your travel agent is right that it's to do with code-sharing: conceptually the EK flight number and the B6 flight number are different flights, for which the fares, fare rules and availability may be different, and the two flights just happen to be on the same piece of flying metal. The fact that you are buying one flight number rather than the other may affect the fares and fare rules that you are being offered at the different prices. What she may be warning about is that the change rules for JFK-TPA may be different if you buy the ticket using a B6 flight number on that flight.

 

It's distinctly frustrating to get the advice you did from EK to read the fare rules on the website, if the website won't display them. If you have been able to see the fare rules for each sector separately, then it would be useful to know what you can see (notwithstanding that the EK website will only show a limited selection of rules). But in the absence of a full set of fare rules, that is my guess as to what is going on - but without knowing what the differences are in the rules, it's impossible to start to assess whether the difference is worth that many thousand ZAR. My guess is that it isn't, but that's a bit of a shot in the dark.

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Thank you Globaliser. I could not have asked for a more concise reply. In my decidedly mushed up mind from looking at dozens of options and possible flight paths to get to Tampa and back from Fort Lauderdale, the permutations have left me dazed and confused. Your answers and summations have cut through the haze. Now I'm off to book my seats! US&A, here we come!

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Before you do, have a beer from the Standeaven brewery for me. From the Hillcrest market, and other spots. Award winning stuff.

 

Hi FlyerTalker. It just so happens that I will be at The Shongweni Market this Saturday. I plan on having a Lager X or two, my fave. I will raise a glass! Their G&T ain't half bad either!

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