Codeshare on United from Lufthansa

I've had the opposite situation, I booked on United but flew on a Lufthansa plane. I called United and got the Lufthansa confirmation number. With that I was able to reserve my seat. I can't remember which confirmation number I used to check in.

To be clear, are you saying you booked this through Lufthansa but its actually a United aircraft? And you tried look up the info on the Lufthansa site and their confirm number doesn't show this segment? Does it refer you to United? I would call United and ask for their confirmation number.

I had recent similar situation on Delta, except that when I went in to Delta site with Delta confirmation number, it automatically switched me over to the partner airlines website. But the Delta number did not work there, so I had to call the partner airline and they gave me a different confirmation number to use on their website. Annoying. But I was still able to confirm all the Delta segments with the Delta number, by skipping that first leg.

Thanks Stan, I will call United.

Our son flew from Chicago on a Lufthansa ticket with the flight operated by United. Pretty sure he had to use the Lufthansa site and locator number to access the reservation. Seem to recall he had some kind of trouble checking in online, but we got to O'Hare in plenty of time and he checked in and checked his bag at a Lufthansa kiosk. There was an attendant to assist with that process, as well. You may not want to hear this, but he reported that the seat on the United flight was miserably uncomfortable.

My wife and I are flying on a United ticket with a connection to Flybe in April. I finally figured out that to access our Flybe reservation online, I had to put in my middle name in addition to my first name.

Lufthansa should be able to provide the United confirmation number, or use the Lufthansa site to access the trip info. Usually, it is provided when you make the reservation. When checking in, you may want to check in via the Lufthansa site if it’s operating the flight. If United is operating the flight, check in via its site. I’ve had issues with seat assignments when using the codeshare operator.

Yes, do get your Lufthansa number reservation number (sometimes called a PNR). Call to get it if it's not on your reservation information. Keep both these PNR's handy, as these are what you need to access your reservation, whether it's to get a special meal, choose a seat, or if there's a problem and you have to call the airline(s).

As said above, regardless of how you booked the ticket or what the flight number is, you often (of course, not always) have to go to the website of the airline actually operating that segment to choose seats or book meals.

And regardless of the flight number, you go to the check in area of the airline actually operating the plane (so, for your first flight, it would be United, not Lufthansa).

Harold: That's actually the opposite of my comment above. Our son's flight was ticketed on Lufthansa but operated by United. He checked in with Lufthansa in Terminal 1 at O'Hare.

Stoutfella: that's very interesting, as it's the first I've ever heard of that.

If it is a Lufthansa flight originally then you check-in on LH website but this is possible only 23 hours before your flight.

Source of info (video): https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/check-in

Updated. Before posted "72 hrs" was wrong for Lufthansa but valid for subsidiary Eurowings (EW).

Unless Lufthansa has changed since our last flights with them last April, online check in starts abou 24 hours prior, although we have been able to get in at about the 30 hour point. Seat election has been good at early checkin.

The first leg is a United codeshare with a Lufthansa flight number. I have been trying to access the trip info on the United flight. How do I do that without a United confirmation number?

So you have a booking confirmation from LH but your flight is operated by UA? Juste locate your alphanumeric booking reference (aka Filekey or PNR) on your booking confirmation. The UA site will recognize it and show your UA PNR, which you will use for the check in. I fly regularly MUC to ERW on UA and back on LH using a ticket issued by LH, and never have run into a problem. And yes, on Star Alliance flights you will check in with the actual carrier.

munchkin.john please come back and report on what you had to do here, for the benefit of others.

In general I agree with sla. Even if the machinery is slightly different, you should be able to get the OTHER airline's (whichever it is) online, without having to wait in a phone queue for a live person. We buy United and fly Lufthansa over the Atlantic quite often. I won't buy a flight that I can't get a seat assignment for, promptly-but a day later is OK for me.

Thanks for all the helpful responses. Apparently United assigned seats for the first leg, is that usual for them to do that?

Still don't have seats for the second leg, flown with Brussels Air, thru Lufthansa. At least my Lufthansa confirmation number works on the Brussels Air site. I can't make a seat assignment here till 24 hours ahead. The flight leaves at 9:25 am Brussels time, which is 3:25 am Chicago time. Does that mean I can check in at 3:25 am the day before? Do I go thru the Brussels sute for the seats?