Expert Flyer Interline Agreements
When we book a flight, we certainly hope and expect to arrive to our destination on time. However, from time to time, things don't go to plan. Flights get delayed, plans change and unfortunately, flights do get cancelled. Knowing and understanding about interline agreements can help you rebound in those frustrating moments, and make it to your destination with minimal disruption. Expert Flyer is a powerful website that offers tons of information about flights, award availability, and much more. While Expert Flyer has many uses, the one we will be talking about in this guide is utilizing its interline agreements feature. That's right, through Expert Flyer, you can retrieve each airline's interline agreement partners. So in this post, we'll walk you through how to use Expert Flyer‘s interline agreement lists.
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What Are Interline Agreements?
Before we get into how to use Expert Flyer for interline agreements we should first go over what interline agreements actually are. It is an agreement between two individual airlines. These agreements allow airlines to accommodate passengers on itineraries that require traveling on multiple airlines. These agreements allow passengers to change from one flight on one airline, to another flight on another airline. Often without having to gather their bags or check in again. This also adds the opportunity when a flight is cancelled, to be re-accommodated on an interline partners flight. Knowing which airlines have interline agreements, and with which airlines they have these agreements can help you locate an alternative flight in these instances.
The interline agreements feature on Expert Flyer‘s website is only available for premium subscribers. If you plan to sign up for Expert Flyer's premium subscription, you can click on the Expert Flyer name anywhere in this article to use our affiliate link. Thanks in advance for the support if you choose to use it.
How To Find Interline Partners: Step By Step Process
Here are the step by step instructions to find interline partners using Expert Flyer:
Step 1: Navigate to Travel Information from the Home Screen
After logging in, click on Travel Information on the left-hand side of the screen from the main menu.
Step 2: Navigate to Interline Agreements
From the travel information screen, select interline agreements. This will load the correct window where you can locate interline agreements. Input your airline and click search.
Step 3: Viewing & Understanding Your Search Results
The next page shows you your Expert Flyer interline agreement results. Let's dissect these search results. Below is an example of American Airline's interline agreements.
In our example, we see a number of partners airline codes. You can reference our airline code list or google an airline code to determine which airline a code refers to. The partners we want to pay attention to are under ‘may issue tickets including'. These airlines are the ones that your airline should be able to issue interline tickets on, if there is availability and your flight has been affected.
Step 4: Getting Rebooked in a Cancelled Flight Situation
If you are the unfortunate recipient of a cancelled flight, what you will want to do is find an alternative flight and ask to be rebooked. Selecting the alternative flight and having the flight number available to feed to the agent helps you to quickly rebound. If you have a flight number selected, you skip the agent having to research alternatives. In cases where flights are cancelled, there are often many passengers all trying to get rebooked at once, competing for the same seats. Having flight numbers ready helps you to get through the rebooking process sooner and hopefully grab a seat before they are taken.
When asking to be rebooked, it is always good practice to look at the operating airlines own flight stock before moving on to interline alternatives. However, if there is not a suitable flight on that same airline, that is when you would want to explore interline partners following the steps above. From there, you can search google flights for options operated by an interline partner.
Once you have found a suitable interline eligible flight, you will want to connect with an agent from the airline that issued your ticket. It is possible to do this either at the airport or via the phone. You will then provide them with the flight number of the interline partner you wish to be rebooked on. You may need to briefly explain that the flight you have provided is operated by an interline partner. Just notate that you can see they have an agreement with the airline.
Expert Flyer Interline Agreements: ToP Thoughts
Expert Flyer is an incredible tool if you know how to use it effectively. If you are in a cancelled flight situation, understanding the interline options available to you can help you reach your destination with as little impact as possible. Interline agreements allow you to be ticketed into another airlines flight if your flight is affected. Working quickly and calmly in the face of a cancelled flight can be difficult, but can help you have the best success getting rebooked. Have you ever been rebooked on an interline partner? Let us know over in the ToP Facebook group!
