My wife and I are going back to Europe next summer and, as I peruse airfares, I have come across flights listed under one airline (Lufthansa, Austrian) but "operated by" another (United, Air Canada). If memory serves from past experience, "operated by" flights means you get on that airline's equipment and deal with their personnel. Do I have that right or just the opposite the case. I find flying the European carriers far superior to flying domestic carriers and would hate to be trapped on a United flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt when I could be on Lufthansa. Thanks much for the input. Brian McCoy. Modesto, CA.
Posted by
Freedonia
15247 posts
It's called codesharing.
When you buy your ticket it will say who is operating the flight. If not, just go to the airlines website and it will tell you.
Just because your ticket says Lufthansa, it might actually be a United flight, and vice versa.
Here's a little hint...if the flight number is above 8000 it's a codeshare probably operated by another airline.
Posted by
Tulsa, Oklahoma, US
290 posts
If it says 'operated by' it's most likely that airlines aircraft and crew, which means you will be trapped on that United flight. Too bad Qantas doesn't fly from the US to Europe...
Posted by
Redding, CA, USA
1568 posts
Click on the Flight information and it will tell you exactly what airlines and the type of airliner.
Posted by
Littleton, CO, USA
44 posts
A couple of months ago I would have completely agreed with you. Howeverm in June I flew United Denver-London and I was actually very pleasantly surprised. I was disappointed they didn't give out the kits with socks and toothbrugh like British Airways does though.
Posted by
Atlanta
1358 posts
Lufthansa is part of the Star Alliance, which United (and I think Air Canada, among others) is a part of. They have an extensive partnership and often code share.
We flew a United flight from Dulles to Frankfurt a few years ago and had a great experience. It wasn't planned for us to be on a United flight, some storms in DC kept us from making our connection on Lufthansa, so it worked out well that they had the partnership, otherwise we would have had to spend the night in DC and wait another day for a Lufthansa flight. We had a new plane, just when they were starting to have touch-screens in the back of the headrests in coach, so that was nice.
Posted by
Santa Rosa, CA, USA
1446 posts
Because we have a Visa United mileage card, we always book through United. A number of times we have been put on Lufthansa (which has been a good experience) and last time we were put on Air Canada. I had heard bad things about Air Canada, but we had a great experience - much better than we've had flying United.