Codeshare Connection Chaos

Next I got Delta on the phone and explained everything to that agent. He took a very long look into the situation and finally concluded that because the remaining six flights operated by SAS were not, and had never been code share flights with any Delta flight, Delta could not rebook us on one of those flights. Delta did not have access to them and could not even “see” them because they were not codeshare flights. The best he could do was put us on standby for a KLM flight with a connection in Amsterdam. We said we’d take it. We were standing by the transfer desk, so before we left we asked the agent to double check that we were now rebooked. They said that we were, in fact, NOT on the standby list. By this time, even if we ran to the gate, we still probably would not have made it on that flight even if we were on the standby list and if there was room for us.

Another phone call to Delta, and we got booked (not standby) on a morning flight from CPH to AMS to ARN. This would mean we would need to get a hotel for the night in a city for which I had done absolutely no research. Plus we wanted to get to Stockholm that evening in order to not miss out on what we had planned for the next day. So we started looking at the option of taking the train.

My main concern at this point was that if we didn’t fly from CPH to ARN, we would be flagged for skiplagging and that our return flights home to the US would be cancelled. I got back on a chat with a Delta agent and explained the situation and he confirmed that our return should not be cancelled. I wanted this confirmed through the chat so that I could screenshot it and save the chat and have a record of what transpired just in case our return got cancelled.

This was now almost five hours later when we decided to give up on flights and take the train. All in all, we made it to Stockholm on the train that evening, eventually arriving at our hotel at 11:15 pm.

The message here is that when someone tells you that the airline has to rebook you on the next available flight, that may not mean exactly what you think it means. If you have a codeshare segment, the operator you booked through may rebook you on the next available codeshare flight–not the next available flight.

Our return fights to the US were not cancelled, we had a great trip, and we made it home safely. I wanted to share this story in case you were like me and assumed that you could be rebooked on the next available flight. Had I known this in advance, I would have researched the Delta codeshare flights to Stockholm and would have seen that there was only one additional flight that day after our original flight, and it connected through Amsterdam. I would have either not booked that original flight with such a short connection, or I would have done some research on how to take the train from Copenhagen to Stockholm.

I have no idea if other major US carriers operate the same way as I have described. Just please consider that you may not be able to be rebooked on the next available flight.

Thank you for writing this and I’m glad that you found a way to salvage your trip. I too am learning that codeshares, while convenient, come with caveats.

1) What you discovered might explain an experience I had in 2022 flying Delta BOS to AMS then codeshare on KLM from AMS to FLR. Mechanical problems in Boston delayed our flight by several hours, necessitating a new connection in Amsterdam. Delta rebooked my AMS-FLR connection for a full day later saying there were no other KLM flights available. But in the KLM app, I could see flights with seats available for the original day. The Delta agent told me that he didn’t have access to those seats. So I bought my own KLM flight, got to FLR on the original day , and got some money back both from Delta and my travel insurer.

2) Recently I had a problem on a Virgin Atlantic flight that I had purchased through Delta as a codeshare. In similar situations in the past on a Delta plane, Delta offered a partial voucher or FF miles as a goodwill gesture. However, in this case they said they could not because it was not their plane.

Yes, Accidental Southerner, that sounds like it could be the same type of situation that we encountered.

slbdaisy, I'm glad everything worked out for you! But that is too bad that it look so long and you had to go through all that.

I have found that code share partners do work together to get you on available flights if possible. I was on a flight booked with KLM and flying from Heathrow to Amsterdam to Minneapolis. As we were flying into Schiphol, I received a message from Delta (the code share partner that was flying the last leg to MSP) that my noon flight had been cancelled and I need to find a new flight.

So as soon as I got off the plane, I walked over to a KLM gate agent standing nearby and explained what had happened. She immediately got on the phone and after a 15 minute conversation with someone, told me she had booked me on a later Delta flight leaving about 5-6 hours later. Everything worked out, I got on the flight and I also was compensated by Delta for $700 for the cancellation (per EU law) and was reimbursed for my comfort plus seat.

But I'm glad you told your story here as it's always good to know about potential outcomes. Thanks!

My word! I had NO idea not all flights on codeshare partners were covered. I guess I just “ass-u-me’d”.

It’s early here, no coffee yet, this will take some time to get my mind unboggled.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Mardee, Wow! That would have been nice for us if the two airlines could have worked together! I guess I always assumed they would.

Pam, yes, I always assumed that all flights would be available as well. Live and learn!

I too did not know this, so thank you. We have a flight in November that was booked with miles on Delta, but we have short connection in AMS and the next leg is on KLM. I think I will check with Delta now and see what options we have if things go sideways for us.

Thank you for explaining how code share actually works. It has certainly changed how I assess flight options.

Thanks for sharing your experience and adding a caveat to the rule of "it's the airline's responsibility to get you to your destination" if a traveler misses a tight connection. Your experience reinforces my proclivity for aiming for 3-4 hour connections despite this "known knowledge." I think I have missed a connection twice -- both times at Amsterdam on a Delta ticket transferring from Delta metal to KLM metal. It was easy-peasy getting on the next flight to my destination -- once I was changed automatically by Delta, once I went to the KLM transfer desk.

Air France-KLM Group fairly recently took majority control of SAS, and SAS is a fairly recent addition to the SkyTeam global alliance (which includes Air France-KLM and Delta). Delta's codeshares with SAS apparently are not well-integrated at this point -- hopefully, this will improve in the future. BUT... I'll still be going for connection times with some extra cushioning.

Thanks for this info. We have a codeshare flight to London in November on Delta (Virgin Atlantic). If things go sideways with Virgin I will be sure to call Delta first. I’m glad things finally worked out for you. It’s always a good idea to research alternatives in case air travel arrangements go awry rather than having to fly by the seat of your pants so to speak when you are jet lagged and not thinking clearly.

Mardee, Wow! That would have been nice for us if the two airlines could have worked together! I guess I always assumed they would.

slbdaily, I wonder if the difference was that the missed flight was because of your circumstances, and was not because of a delayed flight on the part of the airline. It does seem strange because as I mentioned, the KLM agent was able to book me on the Delta flight in my case, but that was due to a delayed flight. I wonder if different rules apply? I'm curious about that and might check into that.

Edit: I did run this through AI (yes, I know some of you hate it, but I was curious and it's a quick way of finding info). Here is a summary of what it said. I did find it interesting that it mentioned that SAS is new to the SkyTeam, so that could have made a difference.

When you're rebooked after missing a codeshare connection, the ticketing airline (Delta in this case) can only rebook you onto flights that are codeshare flights — not on any available flight operated by the partner airline. So even though SAS agents confirmed there were seats available on six remaining flights from Copenhagen to Stockholm that same day, they maintained that Delta had to be the one to rebook the passenger, and Delta told them those non-codeshare SAS flights were flights they couldn't "see" or access. This is a real and often misunderstood limitation. Here's how it works:

Codeshare agreements are specific, negotiated contracts between airlines. They don't give an airline blanket access to all of a partner's inventory — only the flights that are part of the codeshare agreement. SAS is a fairly recent addition to the SkyTeam alliance (which includes Delta and Air France-KLM), and Delta's codeshares with SAS apparently are not yet well-integrated, which likely made this worse than it might be with a more established partner like KLM.

You wondered whether different rules apply when the disruption is caused by the airline versus caused by the passenger's own circumstances. That observation is likely correct — airlines have stronger obligations to rebook when they cause the disruption.

I have found that code share partners do work together to get you on
available flights if possible.

I think the key words here are "if possible." And I'm not confident that the airlines know what is possible or not. I've had two incidents in the past 5 years where I had booked flights that were NOT codeshare, but turned into them because of flight cancellations, and in both cases it was a frustrating experience. I will admit, the airlines got me where I needed to be, but it was not straightforward forward or easy. I avoid codeshares at all costs.

I am sorry you had to go through this and I am glad you were proactive and found a solution, even though exhausting. Thank you for taking the time to share. Delta is my primary airline and flying from SFO I always have codeshare somewhere else. I've encountered a few issues with cancellations or delays but nothing like this.

Once coming back from Tokyo to SFO (with connection in Seattle), after almost 3 hours on the plane on the runaway where they tried to fix a part, our flight was canceled. As we waited to be towed back to gate, I called Delta from the plane (I activated my international plan on the spot for it). Agent on the phone "this flight is not canceled, we can't do anything about it until it shows as canceled". I told her I was being towed back to gate as we spoke!! Packed flight. After long discussion, they found a flight on ANA Airlines and said there was a seat for me, gave me my new reservation code, and told me flight departed 4 hours later. I had checked a bag so I had to talk to Delta to get the bag transferred to ANA.

After skipping the line to give gate agents my new flight info for bag (whiles others waited to get vouchers for hotels and food), I went to ANA gates. Guess what, my seat was not guaranteed but STANDBY. The priority was to put all the Diamond/Platinum/BC passengers first. I had to sit and way and cross my fingers. Japanese agents were very kind. At the end, I got on the flight. LAST PERSON to be called. There were a few other passengers from my original flight who were also sent to this flight but ended up not making it. I got a middle seat in the back of plane. At that point, I was glad I made it (I had a small child and work waiting at home). If I had not gotten on that flight, I would be in serious trouble as next day flights were full with others rebooked. (Our original flight was fully booked).

Thanks to slbdaisy and others for taking the time and sharing the details of their experiences and research. This information will really help me (and all of us) as we make our travel plans.

More recently, in Mexico coming back to SFO with connection in LAX. They had oversold flight to LAX. Delta offered us compensation to fly direct on Alaska 4 hours later (I don't think it was codeshare flight). Told us there were 3 seats together (we were traveling as family) and we would arrive before our original itinerary.

My husband is Platinum with Delta and asked for more $ than what they offered. We also had comfort+ seats and those were not available on Alaska (we knew we could ask Delta later for reimbursement). They agreed for extra $ compensation and off we went to Alaska with our new reservation to claim our seats. Guess what, there were 3 seats but they were all spread out with 2 on exit row. Child can't seat on exit row. We were told to talk to gate agent as law mandated child had to seat with one of the parents/adults.

So I sprinted to gate as soon as someone showed up and lots others arrived after me. She managed to find 2 seats for us together, husband remained on exit row.

Mardee...

I find it very, very amusing that part of the middle paragraph of the AI response you obtained seems to be lifted directly from my comment earlier in this thread 🙂🙂🙂.

@Joy - "Delta offered us compensation to fly direct on Alaska 4 hours later (I don't think it was codeshare flight).". Indeed, Alaska is part of OneWorld (American Airlines is the founder) and Delta is the founder of SkyTeam.

@Dave - Do we now call you AI-Dave? That is pretty startling that your words were mined that quickly.

Pam = correct, they are partner airlines but I don't think that particular flight was codeshare (or I would had seen it as an option when booking online on Delta). To the OP issue with the SAS flight not being codeshare, I didn't think that mattered as long as airlines were partners. It seems that was not the case (maybe because of recent partnership).

I’m so sorry you had to go through this. We almost always fly using United miles and it’s not unusual for a flight segment to be on Lufthansa or another partner airline depending on where we are going. I do anything to avoid that scenario and now I have an even better reason to avoid it. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Thanks for bringing that valuable information to my attention. I have a very strong aversion to mixing airlines, especially for connections, and this certainly reinforces it. Sometimes there's no reasonable way around it, but I think this recalibrates what I will think is "reasonable"!

I don't believe that we couldn't be rebooked because of my medical incident. The EMTs said I was fit to fly, and all of the agents I spoke and texted with didn't know why we missed our connection.

Maybe the issue arose because SAS is relatively new to the alliance?

In any case, please just use caution when booking your connections when you have a codeshare segment. In many cases it is not possible to book on one ticket without having a codeshare segment. In the future, I'll be looking for flights direct to our destination, if available, or consider flying into a city directly and spending a few days there before flying on to our final destination on a separate ticket.

So much valuable information on this forum... So much yet to learn... I have been using the terms partner airline and codeshare incorrectly. I am flying in 3 weeks, round trip, on an American ticket codeshare with British Air: ORD to connection in LHR to NCE Nice, France final destination. 2 flights over and 2 returning. All four flights have both an AA & a BA number.
First flight is operated by AA then the remaining 3 are BA.
I had to get my seat for the 1st flight from American then the other 3 were assigned through British Air.
I have only 2 hours and 5 minutes to make my connection at Heathrow. My searching has shown that if I stay airside I will not need the UK's ETA - electronic travel authorization. But I will need the EU's (France) EES - Exit Entry System that started in April of this year.
Oh golly, I hope I've got sufficient connection time at LHR. I need to find out about LHR arrival terminal and departure terminal.

Thanks for sharing your codeshare experience.

I fly United for my long-haul, international flights, which generally results in a Lufthansa connection to my destination. So I researched (with an AI search) how United/Lufthansa would handle your scenario. And for comparison, I did the same AI search to understand the Delta/SAS codeshare scenario.

For each partnership (United/Lufthansa and Delta/SAS) I confirmed that, yes, the European partner airlines (SAS and Lufthansa) each have flights that are not codeshared with the US based airlines (Delta and United.) The specifics differ for the two, but the generalization is that I cannot search the partner airline website (SAS or Lufthansa) and count on being rebooked to any flight I find there.

However, if I research the United website and find the Lufthansa-operated connection there - with it's duo of LH and UA flight numbers - then the flight is a codeshare, and an option for a rebooking if I miss a connection.

I would think the same would be true for (but I have not researched to confirm and don't have experience with) Delta and SAS: search the Delta website to find your flight and backup options. But, as the OP had the misfortune to discover, do not count on every SAS/partner flight being a codeshare.

CWsocial, yes that is exactly what we ran into. I, and I'm assuming most travelers, had not realized that if the next available flight isn't a codeshare flight with the ticketing airline, you may not be able to be placed on it.

Definitely do your research ahead of time and see how many codeshare flights there are after your flight in the case you miss your connection.

I suggest getting the code-shared airline's confirmation number when you book. I had an experience with being unable to confirm a return flight on Austrian that was booked through United, and ended up needing the Lufthansa confirmation number that was on my outbound flight boarding pass. There was no United desk at VIE to help sort it out

I would like all the airline and third party websites to give you the option of specifying minimum layover times when they generate flight options.

"I would like all the airline and third party websites to give you the option of specifying minimum layover times when they generate flight options." That would be a useful filter!

Dave, that's funny!!! I didn't notice that, but it is a good point so kudos to you!

Thank you slbdaisy and Mardee. That is very interesting and good to know info. I have experienced mixed responses with missed codeshare connections. The worst was in 2008 when flying from Florence to Rome to Seattle. Alitalia insisted on checking our carry on size bags and worse, required us to pick up the bags at the Rome baggage claim before going on to the next flight. Our bags were literally the last ones off the flight and we missed the Rome to Seattle flight. When we asked Alitalia to rebook us they said it was Delta's responsibility. We went to Delta, they said it was Alitalia's fault. We went back to Alitalia and they shrugged and rebooked us Rome-Paris-Seattle. They also put us up in the worst hotel in Ostia that I can imagine. Wet carpeting, smelly room and mediocre food. But we did get to make free phone calls back home to the dog sitter. The folks on an American flight that had mechanical issues had to pay for their phone calls. Go figure. I will say this about Alitalia's rebooking - it put us on the inaugural Air France Paris-Seattle flight on a brand new Airbus. It was very nice.

I’m a bit confused (as usual :-) but after reading thru most of this, it sounds as if it was not the airline’s fault that you missed your connection or did the airline demand that you be seen by an EMT? (Not that you shouldn’t have!) If not, I would think that meant they didn’t have an obligation to get you on another connecting flight. Could you not have just paid for an available flight and then sought reimbursement thru your credit card company or travel insurance for an health issue and avoided all that? Except of course for making sure your return flight was not cancelled out.
We also, several times now, have had the unpleasant experience of dealing with missed connections so I do feel for you.

margie, I did not have a choice to not see the EMTs. The flight attendants who helped me while on the plane made the decision to summon the EMTs. The airline had a responsibility to get us to our final destination. That is what the ticket is--transportation from point A to point B. Other people have missed connections because of EES, but the airline doesn't say, sorry, now you are not our responsibility-- you have to find your own way to your final destination.

Yes, we could have purchased a separate ticket on one of the SAS flights, and we did check into that. The cost to do so at the last minute was over 7 times the cost of the train. Therefore, we opted for the train. I knew the cost would not be reimbursed by travel insurance because the medical incident was due to a preexisting condition, which was not included in our plan.

I suggest getting the code-shared airline's confirmation number when
you book.

That would be nice. I wrote a post about this last year after KLM bumped me and put me on a code share flight instead. Frustratingly, it got messy, very messy. To save time, here's the link instead of rewriting the story.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/forgive-my-rant-the-pre-trip-report

I had a medical emergency (Not anything life-threatening. I am fine.) on the flight from MSP to CPH and needed to be seen by the EMTs upon landing, so we ended up missing our connection to ARN by only a few minutes.

So wouldn't a missed connection due to a medical emergency be a valid event covered by your travel insurance ? I think my first inclination would have been to contact the insurer to get their recommendation on how to handle it. They may have been able to book you on one of the non-codeshare flights. The definition of "available" is relative - in this case "available codeshare flight" may be perfectly legitimate.

@slbdaisy:

Thank you for sharing your experience with us; glad that you guys were able to find your way to your destination! I normally book my flights with Delta because I like their free cancellation policy that offers an eCredit, and KLM does not have the same generous policy. But your rebooking saga got me thinking, maybe for my Scandinavia tour next year, it's better to book my flights with KLM directly

According to Google search: not all SAS and KLM European domestic
flights are codeshared with Delta. While the three airlines are close
partners, codesharing is a selective agreement rather than an
automatic blanket rule across all routes. Codeshares are negotiated
and mapped out on an individual flight-by-flight basis. Just because
airlines are partners does not mean every single flight will carry the
other's flight code; which is likely the case in your scenario.

Booked AA from JFK-CDG and back; the return was CDG-LHR-JFK on BA. I joked to myself that wouldn't it be funny if the plane broke in LHR...which it did.

The AA app rebooked me (to EWR) immediately; however, I'm not about to try to fly into EWR, so I got in the BA line and was assisted by lovely Customer service agents. I told them I needed to get to JFK and please rebook; they looked at every flight leaving that day, incl non code share, and no options, so I was booked back to JFK the next day with no issues. They got me a hotel, food, etc., and I got UK261 as well.

Maybe it worked out well because AA and BA have been partners for so long but BA absolutely was great in this situation.

Ok, after reading through this thread, I have been trying to research the difference between Interline airline partners, Codeshare partners, and Joint Venture Revenue sharing partners.

SAS and Delta became part of the same alliance and announced some increased Codeshare flights last year. However, they are NOT Revenue sharing Joint Venture partners. Here is a quote from Delta:

When you need to rebook or make changes, booking through a
revenue-sharing partner like KLM gives you more direct support, flight
options, and e-credit protections than a codeshare-only partner like
SAS. Both airline types operate within the SkyTeam alliance, but their
differing levels of integration dictate how your flight changes are
handled.

And here is a bit of information from a Reddit post:

Delta is part of a joint venture with Air France, KLM, and Virgin
Atlantic, which means Delta can only sell you TATL flights operated by
themselves or one of those three airlines. They can sell you a ticket
with a connecting flight on SAS, but not the long haul TATL segment.
That won’t change until SAS joins the joint venture, which isn’t
guaranteed to happen.

So.....those of us who often need to connect when flying from the west coast probably don't need to panic, but we might prioritize our connection airline after reading this cautionary thread.

Wow. Thanks for that, sunnyblueflax. How in the heck is the average traveler supposed to know about all that and grasp the nuances! (Bottom line: the airlines hate us!!!)

And here's something that we can all check if we are being cautious:

When I go out to the Delta website to book a flight MSP to Stockholm with a connection thru Copenhagen, I see that indeed that particular flight (ones with a longer layover are not) is a codeshare because even though it is operated by SAS, it has a Delta flight number.

And then for the purpose of this experiment, I tried a return flight to MSP, but connecting thru Amsterdam on KLM, continuing on to MSP on Delta.

All flights bookable through the Delta website with Delta flight numbers, even though each had a segment on SAS or KLM metal.

But when I went to choose my seats, only the SAS segment would NOT let me choose them. This tells me that their systems don't talk to each other and I now know, thanks to slbdaisy, that it's a RED FLAG. I should be extra cautious before going through with the purchase because I might have trouble trying to resolve issues.

Thank you for the clarification sibdaisy. Again, I’m sorry you had to endure all that!

SunnyBlueFlax, that is correct--we were able to select our seats on all segments except the SAS segment. Perhaps that should be a red flag for potential future bookings.

To be clear, Delta did rebook us the next morning on a KLM flight to AMS then to ARN. They fulfilled their responsibility to get us to our final destination. We just chose not to fly that segment and to take the train instead.

I hope that the information shared here by myself and the other posters will help someone avoid this situation in the future. Thank you all for sharing your insights! I know that I certainly understand the codeshare process even better now after reading all of your input.

This is such an enlightening thread! And SunnyBlueFlax, after reading your post, I realized that, as close as British Air and Aer Lingus are, our August ticket to Glasgow…BA to LHR and two more flights on AL, the latter will not let me choose seats. Hmmmmm…..

Well Cathy, I looked it up and Aer Lingus and British Airways ARE Joint Venture partners, so who knows???

I’ve never had this issue before….I can choose seats for Aer Lingus booked directly, but not those on the same BA ticket, if that makes sense. I have to actually call…can’t be done on their website. Very weird, and concerning if our long haul runs late. They are indeed part of the same umbrella company, and I’m going to assume that we would be rebooked if we had a problem. Or fingers crossed :).

Slbdaisy - thank you so much for posting about your experience. I absolutely thought about things the way you did - so would have been surprised in the same way you were.

How frustrating it must have been not to be able to get all the information you needed from the first person from whom you sought assistance. It sounds like quite an ordeal !! I am so sorry you had to go through all that - and jet-lagged to boot !

I thank you for sharing your experience so that we can learn. Hope the rest of the trip was/is fabulous.