But if you’re able to snag those hard-to-get reward seats, what happens when the
airline unexpectedly cancels your ticket?

Question: I’m taking
a cruise that departs from Europe and I booked a flight to the port on American
Airlines. However, the timing wasn’t quite right, so I called an agent to rebook
me on another flight…

…In the process of finding me a flight more compatible with my needs, the
agent at AA booked me on a flight with Brussels Air. In doing so, she canceled
out the flight that I had on hold.

Well, as it turns out, Brussels Air is not longer part of the AA Alliance. Now
there are no flights available with my AAdvantage miles. I have a cruise booked,
flight on another airline after the cruise to port, but no flight to the port
city. AA gets me as far as Heathrow and no further. I contend AA is responsible
for getting me a flight since it was their agent that messed up, not me. They
claim they are not responsible.

Answer: The problem
arose a few days after the customer’s conversation with the agent, when she was
informed that Brussels Air was no longer a partner of AA and therefore her
ticket redeemed with her frequent-flier miles was invalid.

After a week of phone calls with AA agents, the customer was given only one
flight option: fly into Dallas Fort Worth International one night and fly to her
port city the following evening. AA gave her until that weekend to accept the
flight plan offered or cancel the hold.

So, where was the mistake made? American Airlines representatives explained that
the source of confusion with the flight cancellation arose because their
frequent-flier sharing arrangement with Brussels Air expired very recently. They
said that the AA agent who initially booked her flight did not realize the
approaching expiration date and thus incorrectly booked the customer with an
airline no longer allied with AA.

So what happened here?

Up until June 30, 2010, Brussels and American Airlines had a codeshare
agreement. A codeshare means more than one airline can sell space on the same
flight; the flight is operated by one airline, but can be marketed and sold by
one or more other airlines.

However, codesharing does not necessarily mean the airlines are part of the same
“official” alliance group. American is part of the Oneworld alliance. Brussels
Airlines is part of Star Alliance. A codeshare agreement when the airlines are
not part of the same alliance tends to be more unstable.

According to AA, the AAdvantage partnership with Brussels Air was discontinued
as of June 30. However, they continue to say that flight taken with Brussels Air
must be booked and ticketed by June 30, even award travel. This means that if
the customer booked her flight on Brussels Air before the expired date, her
ticket should have been honored by both companies within the alliance.

Since her ticket was canceled, the customer was stuck at square one. After a
week of phone calls with AA agents, she was given only one flight option: fly
into Dallas Fort Worth International a day earlier and fly out to her port city
the following evening.

Once we contacted them on this customer’s behalf, AA came back with a direct
flight with one short layover to her port city, rather than an overnight stop,
which she accepted.

How do you avoid the same mistake happening to you? The safest thing you can do
is to stick with major alliances when cashing in your frequent-flier miles.
Oneworld, Sky Team, and Star Alliance are more stable alliances in comparison to
a pact between two airline companies.

Also, do your own research and confirmation, especially when dealing with those
precious reward miles. With a quick Internet search, you can check which
airlines are aligned with one other, when these side alliances might expire,
what new alliances have been created. The best way to make sure that you are not
booted off your flight is to double check before the agent creates your
itinerary.

By Catherine Flanagan for PeterGreenberg.com.

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For more helpful hints on frequent flier programs, don’t miss our Mileage & Reward Programs section.