I'm confused!

[martinimadam]

Flying from Boston to Montreal October 24. On Expedia there are two flights that fit my needs. One on United. One on Air France. Each has a different flight number. The confusion is that both leave and arrive at the exact same times and have the exact same price. Could these be the same flight? If so, which terminal do I go to? United and Air France are in different terminals at Logan. I'm sure one of you more frequent flyers can help me out.

[donaldsc]

Have you tried calling either airline on the telephone? There are other souces of information out there besides the internet.

[Shorex]

Are you sure it wasn't Air Canada? United and Air Canada codeshare for flights between BOS and YUL (Montreal). Those flights are on Air Canada metal, you would check in with Air Canada even though the ticket was issued by United -- or you could book directly with Air Canada.

[JJPNYC]

This is a code-share and I know for a fact that United does not fly from Boston to Montreal. What's basically happening is that United & Air Canada have an agreement to both sell tickets for the same flight, each with unique flight numbers so that they can sell it as if it was one of their own flights.

 

You'll probably see in small print under the United entry something to the effect of "United 1234 operated by Air Canada". In this case you can buy your ticket direct from United and collect United frequent flyer miles through their program directly.

 

At the airport though, go to the check-in counter for the airline OPERATING the flight, in this case Air Canada.

 

Taking advantage of these code shares can be a great way to save some money on the same flight because often you'll see two totally different prices for the same flight as each airline is allowed to set their own price for these seats. Of course, in these cases purchases the cheapest ticket. :-)

[FlyerTalker]

There are six non-stops that day from BOS to YUL. All are operated by AirCanada (AC), but are also sold as UA flights under a code sharing agreement as mentioned above. You can purchase from either airline, and since both are in StarAlliance, you can get miles on either program regardless of who issued the ticket. You will check in for all of these flights at the AC counter.

 

Five of the flights are on CRJ's, and one is on an E-175, if that makes any difference. The flight is only a little over an hour (block time) so it's not like you have to be in the "Canadian torture chamber" for too long.

 

If you prefer either a oneWorld carrier or SkyTeam, you'll have to be making connections, usually through JFK. Two side considerations: the fare is about $60 less on DL. Also, you'll get more FF miles for the connect (1000 each way rather than 500) if that makes any difference.

[martinimadam]

Thanks to you all for the information. I'm no longer confused.:D