Codeshares: who actually owes you the money

On this page 19

1. What a codeshare is
2. Why the operating carrier is the defendant
3. Where this gets expensive: flights into Europe
4. How to find the operating carrier
5. Wet leases, which are a further layer
6. Connections across two operators
7. Claiming when they pass you around
8. Which regulator, and where to escalate
9. What the marketing carrier still owes you
10. Before you book
11. Alliance membership is not the test
12. If you cannot establish who operated the flight
13. Worth remembering
14. One line, before you book
15. Checking in with one airline and flying another
16. Interline tickets and who carries the problem
17. Loyalty credit is irrelevant too
18. A last word on booking
19. In short

A large share of long-haul tickets are sold by one airline and flown by another. For most purposes that is invisible and harmless. For compensation it is decisive, because the regulations attach liability to the carrier that actually operated the flight — and on some routes that is the difference between £520 and nothing.

What a codeshare is

Two or more airlines agree that one will market seats on the other's flight under its own code. You buy from Airline A, you check in perhaps with Airline A, and the aircraft, crew and operating licence belong to Airline B. The flight number you were sold may not be the number under which the flight actually operated.

Alliances make this routine: a single itinerary can involve three carriers' codes and two operators. It is a commercial arrangement between airlines, and nothing in it changes who is responsible to you.

Why the operating carrier is the defendant

The regulations impose their obligations on the operating air carrier — the one that performs or intends to perform the flight. The rationale is practical: the operator controls the aircraft, the crew, the schedule and the decision to delay or cancel. It is also the only party able to say what actually went wrong.

So the marketing carrier is not liable for the compensation, even though it took your money, and even though its name is on the itinerary. It may still owe you things under your contract of carriage, and it should pass a complaint on, but the statutory claim lies against the operator.

Where this gets expensive: flights into Europe

Here is the scenario that costs people the most money.

EU261 covers an inbound flight into the EU only where the operating carrier is EU-licensed. UK261 covers an inbound flight into the UK only where the operator is a UK or EU airline. Flights departing Europe are covered whoever operates them, because the rules follow the airport.

So consider Chicago to London, sold under a British Airways code and operated by American Airlines. It departs the United States, so no European rule attaches to the departure. The operating carrier is American, which is not a UK or EU airline, so no European rule attaches to the arrival either. A six-hour delay on that flight is worth nothing, despite a BA flight number, a BA booking reference and BA's name on everything you were sent.

Reverse the operator and the answer reverses. The same route sold under an American Airlines code but operated by British Airways is a UK261 claim worth up to £520, because the operator is a UK carrier.

How to find the operating carrier

• The booking confirmation will say "operated by" beneath the flight, sometimes in small type.
• The boarding pass usually names the operator, and the aircraft registration if you are lucky.
• The flight number mismatch is a giveaway: if you are checking in for a flight with a different number from the one you booked, that other number is the operator's.
• The aircraft itself. Whose livery and whose crew uniforms? Not conclusive in the era of wet-leasing, but a strong indication.
• Ask at the desk and write the answer down.

Wet leases, which are a further layer

Occasionally an airline charters an aircraft and crew from another operator to fly its schedule — a wet lease. The aircraft may carry unfamiliar livery and the crew may work for a company you have never heard of.

In most wet-lease arrangements the airline whose schedule it is remains the operating carrier for these purposes, because it holds out the service and decides whether it flies. But the arrangements vary, and if you are told that an obscure charter operator is the liable party, ask on what basis. The sensible starting point is to claim against the airline whose flight it was presented as, and let it explain otherwise.

Connections across two operators

On a single booking with connections flown by different airlines, your delay is measured to the final destination — but the claim lies against the operator of the flight that caused the problem, not the one that was supposed to carry you onward.

So Manchester to Frankfurt on Lufthansa, connecting to Tokyo on a partner, where the Lufthansa leg was late and you missed the connection: the claim is against Lufthansa, measured by how late you reached Tokyo, in the long-haul band. The partner did nothing wrong and owes you nothing.

This also means a short first leg can produce a long-haul claim against a short-haul operator, which surprises airlines as well as passengers. Missed connections.

Claiming when they pass you around

The common frustration: you claim from the airline you booked with, which tells you to claim from the operator, which tells you to claim from the airline you booked with.

Break it with specifics. Write to the operating carrier, state that it was the operating carrier for the purposes of Article 2(b), give the flight number it operated under as well as the number you booked, and say that liability under the Regulation attaches to the operating carrier irrespective of which carrier marketed the ticket. Copy the marketing carrier so there is a record.

If the operator insists the marketing carrier is liable, ask it to say so in writing with reasons. That written statement is useful either way: it is either wrong and you can escalate with it, or it discloses a wet-lease arrangement you did not know about.

Which regulator, and where to escalate

Escalation generally follows the departure country, not the operator's home country. A flight from Madrid operated by a German carrier is escalated to the Spanish enforcement body. For an inbound flight into the UK on a UK or EU carrier, the UK route applies.

This matters because passengers often write to the wrong regulator and lose months. How the regulator routes work.

What the marketing carrier still owes you

Not compensation, but not nothing. Your contract of carriage is with the airline that sold you the ticket, which means refunds, re-routing arrangements and your booking generally remain its responsibility in practice — and it is usually the one that can actually rebook you.

So the sensible division is: statutory compensation from the operator, practical help and refunds from whoever sold you the ticket. Pursuing the wrong thing from the wrong airline is the main reason these claims stall.

Before you book

If disruption protection matters to you — because you are travelling for something unmissable, or simply because you would rather have the option — the operator is worth checking at the point of booking. Two itineraries at the same price on the same route can have entirely different legal consequences, and the booking engine will tell you which is which if you look at the "operated by" line.

Our airline pages set out, for each carrier, whether it is covered on inbound flights into Europe.

Alliance membership is not the test

Passengers sometimes assume that because the operating carrier belongs to the same alliance as a European airline, European rules follow. They do not. Alliances are marketing and loyalty arrangements with no bearing on operating licences, and a US or Asian alliance partner is no more covered on an inbound flight than any other non-European carrier.

The only question is where the operating carrier holds its licence. Our airline pages state that for each carrier, and the calculator applies it automatically once you pick the airline that actually flew you.

If you cannot establish who operated the flight

It happens, particularly years after the event when the booking email has gone. Work from what you have: the flight number you travelled under, the airport, and the date. Flight number prefixes identify the operator, and historical flight records are retained by tracking services.

Failing that, claim against the airline you booked with and ask it to confirm who operated the flight. It is obliged to engage with the question, and its answer either gives you the right defendant or establishes that it was the operator itself.

Worth remembering

Read the "operated by" line before you book a transatlantic ticket, not after you are sitting in an airport. It is the only variable on that route that decides whether disruption is worth £520 or nothing.

One line, before you book

On transatlantic and other inbound-to-Europe routes, the "operated by" line is worth more than the seat map, the alliance, or the frequent flyer credit. Two identically priced itineraries can carry entirely different protection, and the only way to tell is to look at who is actually flying the aircraft.

Checking in with one airline and flying another

A reliable signal that you are on a codeshare: you check in on one airline's app and the boarding pass comes back with a different carrier's name, or a flight number you have never seen. That second number is the operating flight, and it is the one to quote in any claim.

Keep both. Claims occasionally fail because a passenger cited the marketing number and the airline responded, truthfully, that no such flight was delayed — because the operating flight ran under its own number and that is what its records show.

Interline tickets and who carries the problem

A single booking flown by two unrelated airlines under an interline agreement behaves the same way: the claim lies against whichever carrier's leg caused the delay, measured by your arrival at the final destination. The second carrier is not liable merely because it was the one that could not wait for you.

Loyalty credit is irrelevant too

Where the miles land, which status you hold, and whose lounge you used have no bearing on who owes you compensation. The only operative fact is which airline operated the aircraft, and its licence.

A last word on booking

None of this is an argument for avoiding codeshares, which are often the most convenient way to buy a complex itinerary. It is an argument for knowing, before you pay, which airline will actually be flying you — because that single fact determines whether a six-hour delay on the way home is worth several hundred pounds or nothing at all.

In short

Find the "operated by" line. It names your defendant, it determines whether an inbound flight is covered at all, and it is the first thing any competent claim quotes. Everything else about a codeshare — alliance, loyalty scheme, which app you checked in on — is noise.

Two flight numbers, one defendant, and one line on the boarding pass that tells you which is which. Quote both numbers in the claim and address it to the airline that flew the aircraft.

Get those two things right and a codeshare claim is no harder than any other. Get them wrong and the claim goes to an airline that correctly replies it did not operate the flight, which is how most of these quietly die.

Before you write anything, find the operating flight number and the operating carrier. Those two facts turn a confusing claim into an ordinary one, and they are printed on a document you already have.

Everything after that is an ordinary delay claim, assessed on ordinary principles, against an airline that cannot sensibly deny having operated the flight you were sitting on. The confusion that surrounds codeshare claims is almost entirely about identifying the defendant, not about the law that applies once you have.

Identify the operator first, and the rest is routine.

Questions people ask about this