CNA Explains: Why do airlines codeshare and should passengers expect similar service on a codeshare flight?

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Air India expanded their codesharing partnership on Sunday (Oct 27) by adding more destinations between Singapore and India as well as other destinations around the globe. 
Social media comments on the move questioned whether the service standards of both airlines would be on par. 
In this year’s world airlines awards, Skytrax ranked SIA as the second-best airline in the world, while Air India ranked 90th. 
Some online comments questioned if they could book an SIA ticket only to later find out that it is for an Air India flight. 
Other commenters lamented that they would be paying “SQ (shorthand for SIA) prices” for “Air India quality of service”. 
CNA spoke to industry experts to find out what codeshare flights are, how you can tell if you’re taking one, and whether passengers expect vastly different service standards across airlines involved in such arrangements.
A codeshare is an arrangement where, by agreement, one airline places its flight number on a flight operated by another airline, said Mr Aaron Wong, founder of travel website The MileLion. 
For example, a passenger booking an SIA flight might find that the flight is actually operated by German carrier Lufthansa, or local budget airline Scoot, which is wholly owned by SIA.
Mr Alfred Chua, editor of Asia air transport at trade media FlightGlobal, said that codesharing is also a business arrangement, where airlines sell a certain number of seats on the codeshare flights.
He said that a flight may also have codesharing arrangements with multiple partners, and the number of seats allocated to codesharing varies from airline and route.
However, most of the seats on a codeshare flight will be for the passengers of the main airline operator, while a smaller proportion will be marketed as seats for passengers of the codeshare partner airline or airlines, he added. 
According to the SIA website, it codeshares its flights with 33 other airlines from different continents, including Air India, Air France, Ethiopian Airways, Croatia Airlines and United Airlines. 
Airlines codeshare their flights for four main reasons, said Mr Wong. 
The first is to allow airlines to expand their route network without deploying additional resources. 
“An airline can offer passengers more destinations without actually having to operate their own aircraft or create a new route,” he said. 
For instance, under SIA’s expanded codeshare deal with Air India, the network covered by the codeshare arrangement has added 11 Indian cities and 40 international destinations.
Mr Chua said codesharing is also a “cost-effective way to get a presence in a market through a partner airline, without having to make use of your own metal (aircraft), which can incur more costs”. 
The second reason is that airlines within a grouping of airlines known as an alliance usually cooperate with each other, and codesharing is one of the ways to do so. 
For instance, SIA is part of Star Alliance, and it codeshares flights with most of the 25 member airlines. Air India is part of Star Alliance.
The third reason is that codesharing also helps airlines provide improved connectivity between flights, by aligning the various schedules of different operators to provide smoother connections. 
For instance, if a passenger wants to travel from Singapore to Varanasi, India, they do not need to book an SIA flight from Singapore to New Delhi, and then a separate ticket on an Indian carrier from New Delhi to Varanasi. 
Instead, under the expanded codeshare they can soon book the entire trip under SIA, and take a codeshare Air India flight from New Delhi to Varanasi. 
“A passenger can book the whole itinerary on one ticket, which saves them the trouble of having to collect and re-check in their bags,” said Mr Wong. 
Lastly, codesharing is also a revenue source for an airline, where they can earn revenue on routes they don’t normally serve. 
A revenue-sharing arrangement, which need not be a 50-50 split, is made between the partner airlines as customers from these code-shared flights are shared among their respective flights, he added. 
Mr Chua said that full-service carriers will usually codeshare with other full-service carriers – as opposed to low-cost carriers –and take into consideration things like whether the carrier has a business or first class section, and a frequent flyer programme, for instance.  
However, Mr Wong said that while service levels are one factor airlines weigh up in deciding which airline to partner, the primary consideration is still whether the route networks are complementary. 
“From an airline’s point of view, I would prefer to partner with someone who has routes that complement mine, without direct competition,” said Mr Wong. 
For example, SIA has a codeshare arrangement with American carrier JetBlue Airways, which flies domestic flights within the United States and complements SIA’s network. 
“SIA will fly into major US gateways, and after that, you hop on a JetBlue flight and fly the remaining distance,” he said. 
“The whole idea is for me to offer my customers more destinations than I would otherwise be able to operate myself.” 
Airlines would also try to work with partners with similar service levels, but this “really varies”, said Mr Chua. 
“Passengers should be aware that a codeshare flight is likely to not have the same levels of service of the originating airline,” he said. 
“For example, an SIA codeshare on Lufthansa within Europe will be a very different experience with flying SIA,” he said.
SIA’s website states that when travelling on a codeshare flight operated by a codeshare partner, the “conditions of carriage” of the operating carrier applies, and these may differ from SIA’s conditions, such as for baggage allowance. 
Agreeing with Mr Chua, Mr Wong said that no two airlines can offer exactly the same standard of service. 
“The cold, hard reality is that not all airlines are made the same, even though I may be booking a business class ticket from Singapore to India, but SIA business class is very different from Air India’s business class,” he said. 
Everything from the seat configuration, meals provided, entertainment system and the amenities on offer will vary. 
“So I completely understand why people are apprehensive about these things, because it can feel like a bait and switch,” Mr Wong added. 
Both Mr Wong and Mr Chua said that during the booking process, the website should state clearly if it is a codeshare flight. 
Typically, there will be a line on the booking page stating that the flight is operated by another airline. 
Let’s say you are making a booking from Singapore to Sapporo in Japan on the SIA website.
The first flight from Singapore to Haneda Airport in the capital Tokyo is operated by SIA, but the connecting flight from Tokyo to Sapporo is a codeshare flight. 
In this example, the flight from Tokyo to Sapporo on Nov 25 has an SIA flight number of SQ5945, but the booking page states that it is operated by Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA). 
Searching for the same flight on booking platform Skyscanner, it likewise states in small print that the connecting flight is SQ5945, but that it is operated by ANA. 
Other than the indication of a different flight operator, Mr Wong said codeshare SIA flights also have a different flight number template. 
For SIA, codeshare flight numbers will have four digits rather than three digits. For instance, a codeshare flight will be numbered SQ1234, rather than SQ123. 
Even though a flight’s codeshare status is stated in the booking process, some passengers may not notice and be caught by surprise at the airport. 
“Not everyone has that level of familiarity, so some people only find out when they show up at the airport … that can be a very rude shock,” said Mr Wong. 
There are also concerns that codeshare flights may be more expensive under the SIA brand name. 
For instance, SIA also codeshares flights with budget carriers such as JetBlue and Scoot, leading some to wonder whether they will pay more than they should for those flights. 
However, this perception is not necessarily true, said Mr Wong. 
“There’s too many factors affecting the pricing of airline tickets, it’s not just the operating carriers, (it’s) also your dates, how full the flight is, where you are flying to,” he said. 
“It’s hard to say definitively if it’s the same price or less.” 
He added that before booking a codeshare flight, passengers can search for the airfares under the partner airline, and compare the prices before making a decision. 
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), in general it is the marketing carrier’s baggage policy prevails. 
The marketing carrier is the airline which the passenger bought the ticket from.  
This is unless the carrier publishes a rule stipulating that the operating airline’s baggage policy should apply, the airline trade association said in a guidance document on codeshare flights.  
For instance, ANA, Japan Airlines and Emirates state on their websites that if the baggage was misplaced or delayed while on a codeshare flight, the passenger should contact the operating airline for assistance. 
On SIA’s website, it states that passengers should only make a lost luggage report if the last flight in their itinerary is operated by SIA. 
“Otherwise, lodge your report with the operating airline,” it said. However, it does not mention a scenario with a codeshare flight. 
CNA has contacted SIA to ask if the same applies to a codeshare flight.