tatersalad

When a person makes a purchase with one of these vendors that involves a route using more than one airline, do they issue a conjuncted ticket so that the journey is seamless; in such things as check-in, luggage and flight delay?

rkkwan

Whether you can get boarding pass for all legs depend on whether those airlines have specific agreement to do so. So it can be either way. Same with luggage, though unless one leg involves a low cost airline, they should be tagged through.

You are protected against delay. So, the airlines together have to get you to the destination; you will not have to buy a second ticket if you miss a connection.

tatersalad

Thanks to rkkwan, you have been very helpful to me with this issue. Specifically, what we may wish to do is purchase through Orbitz or Cheap Tickets an itinerary that uses multiple airlines. The first leg is on United to Chicago where we will connect with a Korean Air flight that carries a Delta number. The third leg out of Soul is also a Korean Air flight with a Delta number.

My number one concern is addressed in your last paragraph <You are protected against delay. So, the airlines together have to get you to the destination; you will not have to buy a second ticket if you miss a connection.> Do you know if this is included in the written contract?

I have never booked air with an agent other than the airline itself and never have used multiple carriers for the same itinerary, plus, then also became a bit "gun shy" when some of the airlines filed bankruptcy.

Again, any and all specific information is greatly appreciated.

rkkwan

I am pretty sure UA and KE has interline baggage agreement. Basically all major airlines of the world (except the low costs) do. So, just remind the check-in agent at your original airport that you're connecting. Personally check the luggage checks that they have all three flight numbers of it. You should know what the KE flight numbers are as well. I believe that those should be the one on your luggage, not the DL ones. [Though I'm not 100% sure about this one.]

You're protected against connections because those tickets are issued by one airline. In your case, most likely DL. They contract out the original leg to UA. But DL (or whoever actually issues the ticket) will be responsible for getting you to your destination. Doesn't matter if you buy the ticket from Orbitz, your travel agent around the block or the ailine itself.

pat

I bought a ticket from Orbitz going on AA from Reno to Atlanta, then onto Delta from Atlanta to Savannah. The connection in Atlanta to Savannah was a couple of minutes under an hour. When I got to the Reno airport, AA said it shouldn`t have been scheduled that way, that it had to be an hour or more between flights since I was changing airlines. They had to call Delta and change my flight to a later one, from Atlanta to Savannah. Other people had connections of less than an hour, on different flights, so maybe it`s a Delta thing, I don`t know. When I got back, I did call orbitz, not to complain but to tell them what happened for their info. They returned my call, naturally, when I wasn`t there, and said they weren`t responsible, it was my job to make sure the connections were OK. So make sure you have enough time between airlines, as my trip sure wasn`t "seamless".