Avoid these mistakes when booking with partner airlines

On the surface, booking a flight seems like a pretty simple process. You search for flights, then buy your ticket or redeem miles. But sometimes, it’s not that simple — especially when you add the complexity of partner bookings.

A partner booking is when you book a ticket with a different airline than the one you fly. The airline you booked with (whether using cash or miles) is the ticketing airline. The airline you fly with is the operating airline. Partners are usually part of the same airline alliance, but this is not always the case as many airlines also have non-alliance partners. Partner bookings can be more complicated when there are multiple operating airlines.

You might choose to book with a partner for a variety of reasons. When booking a profitable flight with cash, you might find a better itinerary or lower price through a partner. When redeeming a flight with points or miles, a partner might have a cheaper option, or you might not have enough miles in the operating airline's loyalty program.

What problems might arise? How can you avoid them? Here are a few mistakes you should try to avoid when booking with a partner.

You should always check your booking until departure time to ensure that no Schedule Changes, Cancel Even any Aircraft swap This may remove you from your selected seat. Many people refer to this as “changing” your reservation.

Airlines can and do change flight schedules and can cancel flights at any time between your booking and your departure date. And the further in advance you book, the more likely your flight will change. You may receive notification of flight schedule changes, but I wouldn't rely on it. Some airlines do a good job of notifying travelers of upcoming travel changes, while others don't, even if they have your contact information. If you have a partner booking, you need to make sure the operating airline also has your contact information, not just the ticketing airline.

If your booking involves travel on more than one airline, please be aware of changes in flight schedules so that modifications to one leg of your journey do not cause you to miss the next flight on another airline.

Sometimes, if your operating airline's flight is canceled, or there's a schedule change that affects the rest of your trip, the ticketing airline will open up seats or be willing to rebook you on its flight.

This happened to me recently. I received an email notification that there was a small time change on my award ticket. Delta SkyMiles That included flights on Delta and WestJet. Luckily, I didn’t trust the email, because when I checked my itinerary on Delta’s website, I saw it wasn’t just a minor change.

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My Delta flight did have a minor adjustment, but my WestJet flight was completely canceled. I was automatically booked on a completely new itinerary that required two stops instead of one, and arrived nine hours later than I had originally planned. So I used Delta's online chat feature to request a rebooking on Delta-only flights that would get me to my destination closer to my original arrival time. While the email from Delta prompted me to check my reservation again, I do tend to check my reservations regularly so I can spot changes ahead of time before traveling.

If you have Points and Miles You may have several different ways to book the same trip within different loyalty programs.

Suppose you want to fly QsuiteQatar Airways business class, flying from the US to Doha. People new to points and miles might think you can only book flights on Qatar Airways. Avioswhich is the currency of Qatar Airways' Privilege Club loyalty program. But it is not.

Qatar is oneworld alliancewhose flights can be booked using miles from a number of partner airlines, including American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. Each airline has a different redemption rate, so it is important to research the different programs, search for the flights you want to book, and understand the sweet spot for redemption in each program.

Another factor to consider is Taxes Partner award redemptions. Some airline programs may charge fewer miles but then charge expensive fuel surcharges or additional booking fees, while other airlines have lower fees but charge more miles.

Related: Key Points: Book Partner Awards at Fixed Prices Using AAdvantage Miles

Unfortunately, when you search for award travel online, sometimes flights are displayed that are unavailable. This is called “Phantom Reward Space” While this situation is annoying, it’s even worse if you’ve transferred points from one of them. Rewarding Flexible Plansuch as Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards, because you usually can't reverse these transfers.

Phantom space is especially prevalent with partner bookings because sometimes partners don’t have as much seats as the airline flying the route, or they don’t update seat information as quickly or as often as the operating airline.

To avoid phantom award space, there are some things you can do, including calling the partner airline (whose miles you want to redeem) to see if the award can be booked over the phone, and checking with other partners to see if the award is available there.

Not understanding who “controls” the ticket or who to contact when you have a problem

Flight schedule changes, delays and cancellations can sometimes be tricky when booking with a partner. Often the airline you fly with will tell you to contact the airline you booked with to handle rebooking or other issues.

If it is more than 24 hours before your travel time, the issuing airline now “owns” the ticket and can make changes to it. If it is less than 24 hours before travel, the operating airline now owns the ticket and can make changes or rebook you in the event of a delay or cancellation. This happened to me a few years ago when I returned to the US from Buenos Aires.

I have used British Airways Avios Booked a flight with American Airlines. When I arrived at the Buenos Aires airport, I learned that my flight had just been cancelled. Since the flight was scheduled to leave in two hours, I was able to speak to American Airlines customer service at the check-in counter. Even though I had booked the flight with Avios, American Airlines rebooked me on a flight the next day. However, it was just a simple direct flight. If your first flight was cancelled and you are connecting to a flight with another airline, you may still need to contact the airline you booked with.

Unfortunately, sometimes the airlines themselves either don’t know or don’t want to take responsibility for issues with partner bookings, and instead blame each other. This happened to friends of TPG Senior Editorial Director Nick Ewen last summer when flight schedules changed — their tickets weren’t reissued correctly, and then weather delayed their first flight.

“They continued to go back and forth with JetBlue and Condor customer service, but they couldn't get any help getting the ticket reissued,” Nick explained. “JetBlue knew the weather issue was their fault, so they tried to get them to rebook, but Condor still had 'control' of the ticket in the system. When he called Condor, they kept saying there was nothing they could do because it was JetBlue's fault.”

Nick's friends ended up paying out of pocket for new tickets and incurred costs for an unplanned hotel night, but they have been refunded for their original tickets and are submitting Travel Insurance Request a new ticket.

Related: Flight cancelled or delayed? Here's what to do next

If you use cash (rather than miles) for partner bookings, you will be eligible to earn miles for your travel. So be sure to consider ahead of time where it would be best to Credit your miles Made a profit.

If you book a flight with an international airline that you rarely fly, it may be a better idea to credit your miles to a partner program that you use more often. Different programs have different points rates, so you may also want to consider how many miles you can earn with different partners.