Dear Alex,
My travel agent booked me out of Muscat with Emirates via Dubai. The itinerary included some codeshare flights with Oman Air that shared Emirates’ flight numbers. However, the Emirates system would not allow the use of Emirates flight numbers, so my agent had to use two tickets.
During the trip I had a nine-hour transit in Dubai and both carriers refused my request for a short hotel stay because I was using separate tickets. What are your views?
Anwaar Farooqi, Muscat
Alex replies:
Each ticket gives you a separate contract with the airline concerned so that’s why neither carrier would assist. I have never heard of a case where codeshare flights could not be included on either airline’s ticket because that’s the rationale behind codeshare.
I feel the real explanation is that your travel agent found they could find you a cheaper fare to your final destination by issuing two tickets. It’s an oddity of airline pricing that sometimes two separate tickets can cost less than one through ticket. Maybe your travel agent ought to have explained this to you beforehand.
