Should I book a codeshare flight?

Codeshares can be a useful way to book flights, earn miles, and get where you need to go. However, before purchasing, read the fine print. Always know which airline is truly operating your flight, and how their policies around earning miles, in-flight services, and other key factors might impact your trip.



Booking a codeshare flight (where one airline sells a seat on a flight operated by another) is a "yes" for convenience but a "maybe" for perks. The biggest advantage in 2026 is seamless transit: if you book a single codeshare ticket, your bags are checked through, and the ticketing airline is responsible for rebooking you if you miss a connection. However, codeshares can be tricky for elite status benefits. You might not get the same luggage allowance, lounge access, or seat upgrade priority on a partner's aircraft. Furthermore, checking in can be confusing; you almost always need to check in with the "operating carrier" (the airline whose plane you are actually boarding) rather than the "marketing carrier" (who you bought the ticket from). Before booking, compare the price on both airlines' websites—sometimes the operating carrier sells the exact same seat for less than the codeshare partner.

People Also Ask

Codeshares allow us to sell seats on flights operated by other airlines. This means you can easily combine American and flights with other partner airlines to create a single itinerary to multiple destinations. Our codeshare agreements make booking, checking in, checking your bags and traveling more convenient.

MORE DETAILS

Just remember that many codeshare flights are significantly more expensive than a normal flight. In the above example, booking as EK 319 might be several hundreds of dollars cheaper than booking under JL 5095. You'll want to keep that in mind when looking for codeshare flights.

MORE DETAILS

In most cases, if you are booked on a single itinerary with Air France for example, and your first flight is with Air France, and the second is a codeshare on KLM, you will not have to recheck bags during the layover to KLM. Your bags would be ticketed and checked all the way through to your final destination.

MORE DETAILS

You can select a seat on some codeshare flights operated by other airlines. In that case, the system will guide you automatically.

MORE DETAILS

A codeshare occurs when one airline markets a flight operated by another airline. This may mean that you buy a ticket from United Airlines to Munich with a stopover in Frankfurt. While the first leg of your flight is operated by United, the second leg is flown by Lufthansa.

MORE DETAILS

While, generally, the airline won't wait for connecting passengers, there might be some exceptions. If a flight is delayed, and there are many passengers who are connecting from this delayed flight onto the same connecting flight, the airline will hold the connecting flight for these passengers.

MORE DETAILS

If you miss your connection due to a delay, usually the airline is responsible for providing you with a replacement flight to your destination. They will have to book you on the earliest possible flight available.

MORE DETAILS

Book together or link your reservations. If this happens, they won't know that you're traveling together because it was booked under two or more reservations. Therefore, if your tickets are booked separately, be sure to call the airline and request that they link the reservations or PNRs (passenger name records).

MORE DETAILS