# Booking a flight itinerary involving multiple airlines that don't codeshare **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** vacation-travel\ **Created:** [September 19, 2025, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196 "2025-09-19T21:25:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/21 "2025-09-20T15:10:39Z")
Here is a Reddit post from last year claiming that AA and UA still have an interlining agreement: > **[Reddit - The heart of the internet](https://www.reddit.com/r/americanairlines/comments/1f6jmc1/ordsux_discovered_this_week_that_american_still/)** ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/22 "2025-09-20T15:14:41Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And, yes, as travel professionals, they have access to reservation systems and planning software, which you or I wouldn’t. Huh, interesting. Is there a way to find out which agents have access to such systems (do they all?). Is there a licensing system or such for the agents? If I look on Google Maps for travel agents near me, it seems like most of them are just working at home solo planner types, as opposed to some sort “official” agency. Like is there a way to tell apart “a travel agent who can book you an interline flight and rebook you if necessary using their special software” vs “somebody who will use TripAdvisor for you”? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/23 "2025-09-20T15:18:23Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > If I look on Google Maps for travel agents near me, it seems like most of them are just working at home solo planner types, as opposed to some sort “official” agency. That doesn’t surprise me too much, as the travel agent industry has shrunk a lot. I know a person who works as an independent travel agent, and works from home; he specializes in helping clients to book cruises (and the travel involved in getting to and from their homes to the cruise ship). The OP mentioned that they are a AAA member, which still offers the use of full-service travel agents to their members. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/24 "2025-09-20T15:24:27Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The OP mentioned that they are a AAA member, which still offers the use of full-service travel agents Huh, I’ll have to try that sometime. OP, please do let us know if you find a way to make this happen, AAA or otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/25 "2025-09-20T15:29:09Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The OP mentioned that they are a AAA member, which still offers the use of full-service travel agents to their members. Last year, I took my father to the local AAA office to get his passport photo taken and while we were doing that, there was a couple on the other side of the room sitting there talking to a travel agent about arrangements for an upcoming trip. I was a bit amazed. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/26 "2025-09-20T15:31:48Z")
At least as to this bit … > [@Reply](#): > > If you have to check out and back in and go through baggage and security and all that, If the OP is traveling only with carry-ons, the entire domestic portion of O’Hare is connected on the secure side. So one can transfer between any two domestic flights on any two airlines with no more than a long hike. No ticket counters, no security, etc. If either flight is international it gets more complex, but that’s not relevant to the OP. If they can’t interline and they must check baggage, then yes, they’re going to need to exit the secure side at the inbound carrier, retrieve their bags from the inbound carrier baggage claim area, then schlep them on the non-secure side over to the outbound carrier ticket counter area, recheck the bags, and re-process through security there. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/27 "2025-09-20T15:45:56Z")
I’m old enough to still have used old-style travel agents in the 1990s and early 2000s; I also remember my first experience of today’s way of doing things, for a somewhat complex intercontinental trip in 2006 that involved both old-school paper tickets booked through an agent for the flight from Europe to Asia and paperless tickets that I booked myself online for flights within Asia. The old travel agencies were brick-and-mortar Main Street shops that you could walk into to book flights or hotels; most of the time, you’d pick the latter from printed catalogues. The agents had access to a computerised booking system to which all sorts of hotels and carriers were hooked up and which I later learnt was called SABRE. I always wondered what it’d take to get access to this system, and my guess was that you’d have to have a minimum volume of bookings that you handle per month. As I understand it, airline reservations before the advent of SABRE (or its predecessor systems) were very much a manual process: You’d walk into a travel agency and ask for a ticket for a particular flight. The agent would call the reservation centre of the airline, which would have a physical pin board representing every flight they were taking reservations for. If the ticket you wanted was still available, the reservation centre would confirm it over the phone to the agent and mark the seat as taken on the pin board. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/28 "2025-09-20T15:53:15Z")
SBARE was started by American Airlines in the tail end of the 1950s. It was one of the first, or the first, of what later came to be known as > **[Global distribution system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_distribution_system)** > > A global distribution system (GDS) is a computerised network system owned or operated by a company that enables transactions between travel industry service providers, mainly airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and travel agencies. The GDS mainly uses real-time inventory (e.g. number of hotel rooms available, number of flight seats available, or number of cars available) from the service providers. Travel agencies traditionally relied on GDS for services, products and rates in order to provid... By the late 60s there were several competing systems, each founded and operated by a different airline. But all interconnected so any one could access the inventory of the others. Consolidation in both the airline industry and the GDS industry slowly winnowed the field down to fewer and fewer larger and larger players. Which were then divested back in the “shareholder value” '90s and eventually the independent GDSes came to “own” access to the airlines and squeezed their 'nads appropriately. Today SABRE remains one of the biggees in the small but tentacular GDS world. For those curious, there’s actually a bunch of interesting IT and airline history here: **[Sabre (travel reservation system) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(travel_reservation_system))** A lot of the early airline booking websites were attempts by the airlines to wrest control of their sales process from the GDSes and bring it back in house. And then the cycle repeats with outfits like Kayak or Expedia being sorta GDS middlemen … again. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/29 "2025-09-20T16:24:41Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > I always wondered what it’d take to get access to this system, and my guess was that you’d have to have a minimum volume of bookings that you handle per month. I’m curious now too. It’d be fun to be able to do this for friends and family. Hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/30 "2025-09-20T17:22:41Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If the OP is traveling only with carry-ons, the entire domestic portion of O’Hare is connected on the secure side Is that just for American and United or for all airlines? I seem to recall a Delta to American connection years ago where I had to change terminals and re-clear security. Do they still have the psychedelic tunnel connecting the American and United sides? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/31 "2025-09-20T17:28:26Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Is that just for American and United or for all airlines? I seem to recall a Delta to American connection years ago where I had to change terminals and re-clear security. > > Do they still have the psychedelic tunnel connecting the American and United sides? All three of the domestic terminals at ORD are connected to each other on the secure side, and have been for decades. United is Terminal 1, American is Terminal 3, and Terminal 2 (for now) is where Delta and other airlines are, though a lot of the Terminal 2 gates are also used by United. _Edit: If your memory of having to re-enter security to switch airlines is accurate, I’d guess it was either due to having to collect checked luggage, or if one or the other flight was in Terminal 5: it’s mostly ORD’s “international” terminal, and it’s not connected to the other terminals on the secure side._ The “psychedelic tunnel” is in United’s Terminal 1; it connects their B and C concourses. And, yes, it’s still there. [![](https://www.tboake.com/gallery/ohare_tunnel/ohare_tunnel_3191.jpg) ](https://www.tboake.com/gallery/ohare_tunnel/ohare_tunnel_3191.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/32 "2025-09-20T17:31:13Z")
ETA: ninja’ed. All domestic airlines. The psychedelic tunnel connects one set of United gates built as an island out on the ramp to the rest of the United gate area that’s landside. From United’s landside you can then walk on the secure side to anywhere else in the domestic terminal complex. To do the complete circumnavigation of every domestic gate at O’Hare takes a bit over 90 minutes at a normal walking pace not dragging luggage. I used to do that mid-shift now and again. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/33 "2025-09-20T17:54:24Z")
Upon further review the connection where I had to re-clear security was international so terminal 5. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/34 "2025-09-20T18:02:30Z")
There is a secure-side shuttle train under construction that will permit folks to arrive domestically in the main terminal and then ride the train securely to the international terminal to then board a long-haul departure on whatever airline. Also both AA & UA & their alliance partners have a few daily international departures from their domestic terminal areas for ease of outward connections. AFAIK, those are the only two such carriers. Of course anyone arriving from an international destination will arrive at the international terminal, have to retrieve all checked baggage to deal with customs and immigration, then exit the secure side. From there either to leave the airport if Chicago is their destination, or change terminals, recheck luggage, and re-enter the secure side in some sequence for their subsequent outbound domestic flight. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/35 "2025-09-20T18:03:39Z")
Somewhat related to this, I just yesterday booked a round trip flight from SFO to Athens on Scandinavian Airlines (SAS). Booked directly on SAS’s website. The interesting thing is that the return itinerary has me on Aegean Airlines from Athens to Copenhagen, then SAS from Copenhagen to SFO. Aegean is part of Star Alliance while SAS is now part of SkyTeam. Hopefully, since it’s all one ticket booked directly with the airline, it’ll work out. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/36 "2025-10-10T20:27:08Z")
So since some people asked for an update – I called AAA’s travel agency today and was basically told “we can’t do that”. (Honestly I still think it can be done; I suspect she just didn’t know how). But after looking at the airline’s schedules in more detail, I realized the 2 stop itineraries AA was offering have virtually the same travel time as the interline itinerary – the interline connection just trades the extra stop for a longer layover. So I just booked the itinerary with 2 stops. Maybe the interline connection still would have been possible to book by calling United’s reservation line, but I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/37 "2025-10-10T22:26:38Z")
FWIW just today I booked an itinerary on two non-codesharing airlines. One transoceanic leg on Airline A to a gateway city, connecting there to a domestic flight on Airline B. Same pattern in reverse going home a couple weeks later. The only way it could be assembled by a professional travel agent was as two separate itineraries; one for each airline. So as far as airline A knows, I’m doing the two transoceanic hops and staying 2 weeks in the gateway city between hops. As far as Airline B knows, I live in the gateway city and am taking a non-stop two-way domestic trip w them. Also two separate CC charges, one to each airline. ISTM that non-codeshare interlining is just about dead if not fully dead. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/38 "2025-10-10T22:46:37Z")
I’m glad it worked out for you but are you changing planes during the two stops prior to getting to La Crosse? Because with every additional stop, you’re increasing the possibility of a missed connection, weather delay or other complication. I prefer direct flights when possible, so I would have preferred the direct flight to Rochester MN and then a one-hour drive. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/39 "2025-10-10T23:11:34Z")
Late add. … We started an itinerary with a different transoceanic airline that was in the same alliance as the foreign domestic carrier. That was going to be all 4 legs on one itinerary. For … reasons … we changed to the non-allied carriers and that’s when the itinerary broke & had to be split. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196/40 "2025-10-10T23:54:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Because with every additional stop, you’re increasing the possibility of a missed connection, weather delay or other complication. Yeah, I know, and my connection at ORD is a bit tight… that’s why i bought the travel insurance (which I usually skip on domestic trips). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booking-a-flight-itinerary-involving-multiple-airlines-that-dont-codeshare/1023196.md?page=3)