Does Flight Ease allow a code share booking?

[Bob7]

Booked and fully paid United non-refundable flight overseas with one connection through Flight Ease. Later United cancelled first leg and Flight Ease contacted us to re-book, giving some options. Would Flight Ease allow the first leg to be re-booked on a code share flight that has a United flight number but is operated by another airline?

[CruiserBruce]

Don't know why not.

[Native Floridian 26]

They offer tons of codeshare flights.  I try to avoid them, but they are listed on the options page.

[Haljo1935]

We haven't booked them, but they do show on FE pages.

[Torquer]

FlightEase certainly does use codeshares. But the price might be different if you change.  However, be aware that on some airlines, if you are flying a codeshare you may not be able to reserve your seats ahead of time.  This is true in general of codeshares, and nothing to do with FlightEase.  And we always feel, perhaps unjustifiably, that if something goes wrong (flight changes pre-flight, or a delay in getting to a connecting flight) we will have a better chance of getting it resolved quickly if our flights are on the main airline rather than a codeshare.  That is why we seldom use codeshares nowadays.

[Mary229]

Since we are discussing flight ease I want to share this morning’s experience.  Due to a casino rate I had to pay for my flights immediately, so once I was satisfied with the available rates I bought.  I am quite a few months away but wanted better seat selection.  I clicked “ticket flights”, carefully read the terms on the pop up and completed the transaction.  Within 5 minutes I had an email confirmation and access to my flight on American where I proceeded to purchase better fixed seat options. The complete procedure from start to finish was 20 minutes. 

[FlorenceItaly]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

Since we are discussing flight ease I want to share this morning’s experience.  Due to a casino rate I had to pay for my flights immediately, so once I was satisfied with the available rates I bought.  I am quite a few months away but wanted better seat selection.  I clicked “ticket flights”, carefully read the terms on the pop up and completed the transaction.  Within 5 minutes I had an email confirmation and access to my flight on American where I proceeded to purchase better fixed seat options. The complete procedure from start to finish was 20 minutes. 

Mary, this is fantastic information.  Thank you for sharing.  Which class of seats on American did you go from and to?

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, FlorenceItaly said:

Mary, this is fantastic information.  Thank you for sharing.  Which class of seats on American did you go from and to?

This is for Main Economy with American.  On the HAL website I was only given a choice of center seats. Once at American I could pay to upgrade to a variety of better seats including upgrading to Premium Economy for points or cash.  I did not do enough research to see if I could also upgrade to Business Class.  (This particular flight the business class starts around $10000 per person!!)

[Haljo1935]

On 8/14/2023 at 2:00 PM, Mary229 said:

This is for Main Economy with American.  On the HAL website I was only given a choice of center seats. Once at American I could pay to upgrade to a variety of better seats including upgrading to Premium Economy for points or cash.  I did not do enough research to see if I could also upgrade to Business Class.  (This particular flight the business class starts around $10000 per person!!)

This aligns with my very recent experience. 

During an interaction yesterday w/both FE and American Airlines, I learned FE cannot book those extra pay premium seats and American cannot access Main Cabin Plus extra pay seats, but once ticketed, as Maryanne said, you can move yourself and pay the seat charge. Even if your AA status allows you to move at no charge, they cannot do it, traveler has to do it.

What a journey!!

[Mary229]

4 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

This aligns with my very recent experience. 

During an interaction yesterday w/both FE and American Airlines, I learned FE cannot book those extra pay premium seats and American cannot access Main Cabin Plus extra pay seats, but once ticketed, as Maryanne said, you can move yourself and pay the seat charge. Even if your AA status allows you to move at no charge, they cannot do it, traveler has to do it.

What a journey!!

Since I know you have a lot of AA knowledge.  What happens if you try to change flights after final payment.  Do I go through AA or FE? What is the fee?  I have never gotten into this predicament before and it may be an issue next month. Thanks for your expertise 

[Haljo1935]

1 minute ago, Mary229 said:

Since I know you have a lot of AA knowledge.  What happens if you try to change flights after final payment.  Do I go through AA or FE? What is the fee?  I have never gotten into this predicament before and it may be an issue next month. Thanks for your expertise 

For a flight change, you go through FE and charges will depend on fare rates at that time and their arrangement w/AA on change fees. In FE, the top right corner of the flight details (the screen that shows the cost, flights, locator numbers, seat assignments) will show the final date that changes can be made w/o fee. Beyond that date is when change fees apply and the $$ won't be known until you decide on the flights.

Again, this is for flight changes as you already know how to handle seat changes  😎

One caveat, you can reach out to AA to handle, but they will charge a $50 fee on top of fare & change fees. This is because they don't touch 3rd party bookings; FE is 3rd party.

A workaround (only once tickets have been issued) can be to cancel the FE flights and rebook direct w/AA using the credit. The amount of credit you receive will be less change/cancelation fees,  so it will be less than what you paid. I only do that if the new flight is considerably less than the original cuz it's a process.

Hope it all works; safe travels  - enjoy your cruise!

[Mary229]

3 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

For a flight change, you go through FE and charges will depend on fare rates at that time and their arrangement w/AA on change fees. In FE, the top right corner of the flight details (the screen that shows the cost, flights, locator numbers, seat assignments) will show the final date that changes can be made w/o fee. Beyond that date is when change fees apply and the $$ won't be known until you decide on the flights.

Again, this is for flight changes as you already know how to handle seat changes  😎

One caveat, you can reach out to AA to handle, but they will charge a $50 fee on top of fare & change fees. This is because they don't touch 3rd party bookings; FE is 3rd party.

A workaround (only once tickets have been issued) can be to cancel the FE flights and rebook direct w/AA using the credit. The amount of credit you receive will be less change/cancelation fees,  so it will be less than what you paid. I only do that if the new flight is considerably less than the original cuz it's a process.

Hope it all works; safe travels  - enjoy your cruise!

Super helpful.  Thanks.