April 21, 2004 -- We've railed before about codesharing, the airlines' practice of "pretending" that another airline's flights are theirs for marketing purposes. While airlines say codesharing improves travelers' options by merging airlines' networks, we think it confuses travelers and comes teeters on the edge of becoming flat-out false advertising.
Occasionally, codesharing can even put travelers' safety in question. We're disturbed by Delta's announcement this week that they're going to start selling tickets on Taiwan's China Airlines as Delta tickets. While it often has very low fares, China Airlines also has one of the worst safety records in the industrialized world. According to Airsafe.com (www.airsafe.com/events/regions/asia.htm), tiny China Airlines has had more than thirty times Delta's fatal accident rate per flights flown. And China Airlines' problems aren't buried in the past, and aren't caused by one bad crash. The airline had fatal crashes in 1998, 1999, and 2002.
We're not alone in our assessment. The editor of Flight International magazine told the BBC that China Airlines' safety record is "exceptionally bad" (https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2007875.stm) and after China Airlines' 2002 crash, CNN said it "was considered one of the world's most dangerous airlines" though "in recent years, it has put more emphasis on safety" (www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/25/taiwan.crash).
Delta spokesman Todd Clay says Delta ran an independent safety assessment on China Airlines before starting the codeshare, and that the carrier has been checked out "from its maintenance records to its spare parts." Delta's safety audit program has been approved by the US government, which has some of the strictest air-safety standards in the world, he said. And according to the FAA's latest assessment, the civil aviation authorities in Taiwan are up to international standards.
"We are confident that our passengers will not be exposed to any unnecessary safety hazards," Clay says.
Peter Miller, director of marketing research for airline consultancy Skytrax, agrees that China Airlines has turned themselves around in the past few years. They've spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new safety systems and training to shake off the stigma of their gory past, he says.
"We did a thorough audit of China Airlines just over year and a half ago, and in general terms, their actual safety procedures now are probably some of the best in Asia," he says.
But independent airline consultant and author Joe Brancatelli is skeptical that China Airlines will live up to Delta's record for safety. "China Airlines ... is plagued by an institutional problem: the pilots it has traditionally hired have been former military. And given that [the Taiwanese] military has been loaded for bear given the political situation, they make for very shaky commercial pilots. Even other pilots I know call them 'cowboys,' which seems to be a pilot's term of art for a flyer who takes too many risks," he says.
All airlines have occasional accidents, of course. And flying is still safer than driving. But the persistent pattern of accidents on this one, relatively small airline makes us uneasy, even if they have turned themselves around in the past year. Their safety record pales before Delta's rock-solid history of being one of the safest carriers in the skies. For that reason, we recommend you avoid "Delta" (which is really now China Airlines) when flying to Taiwan.
No matter where you're flying, it's important to know whether you're on a codeshare. That's because when you get to the airport, you must check in with the airline that actually runs your plane, not necessarily the airline named on your ticket. If you experience any delays or other problems with your flight, you could easily find yourself being shuttled back and forth between airlines in a blame game. (Go to the airline that actually runs the plane first.)
To check to see if you're on a codeshare, look for a line saying "OPERATED BY" when you're buying your ticket. It'll often be in small type under the flight number on whatever Web site you're using. If your Delta flight, for instance, says "OPERATED BY CHINA AIRLINES," that means it's not actually a Delta flight -- they're just playing pretend!
The biggest codeshare arrangement in the US today is a massive deal between United and US Airways, where pretty much any flight run by each airline may appear as the other's. That can actually work in consumers' favor -- if you don't like the prices you get through United's Web site, try to book the same fares through US Airways' site and often they'll be lower. You just have to stay alert so you check in at the right desk at the airport.
Delta's China Airlines link is the only one that worries us, safety-wise. But if you're picky about whom you're flying with, you should check out these lists of codeshare partners for the "big six" US airlines. While we've flown codeshares in the past and intend to fly them again, we make sure we're comfortable with the real airline we're flying on before buying our tickets.
American Airlines (www.aa.com/content/travelInformation/codesharePartners/main.jhtml?anchorEvent=false)Continental Airlines (www.continental.com/company/alliance/default.asp)
Delta Airlines (www.delta.com/prog_serv/worldwide/index.jsp)
Northwest Airlines (www.nwa.com/corpinfo/allia)
United Airlines (www.united.com/page/middlepage/0,6823,1518,00.html)
US Airways (www.usairways.com/about/codeshare/airline_partners.htm)