Airline "A" operating on behalf of airline "B"

[Maxbert]

Probably the best forum for this one, here goes:

The Maxberts are off to Mauritius at the end of the month, out from Paris CDG. From the timetable and initial reservation confirmation, the flight was to be with Air Mauritius on an A340-300, for which the seats had already been reserved.

When Mrs. Maxbert picked up the travel docs yesterday, it turns out that outbound flight MK0051 will actually operated by Air France, avec B744.

My questions are:

Will the flight be crewed by MK cabin / flight crew, or AF crew (it seems there are no 744s in the MK fleet)?
Will the CC wear AF or MK uniforms?
Will the flight be "usual" AF service standard, or will it be adapted to MK standard (I have no idea what the difference may be)?
Finally, will our seat choice be reflected in the different A/C (we're flying business outbound), or will we have to make do with what we get given at the airport (Mr. and Mrs. Maxbert are flying with their 2 young whelps...)?

Many thanks,

Maxbert

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

This sort of thing happens very frequently with airlines sharing routes and aircraft. One airline operates the route on behalf of one, maybe two others. It will almost certainly be all Air France crews, food, etc. When you check the departure information you will almost certainly find your flight and an AF flight going at the same time = both flights on same aircraft.

You should attempt to reserve your seats on-line well in advance of departure or you might find the whole family split up - and it's not unknown for youngsters to be separated from their parents. Get that sorted ASAP.

[Hotel Tango]

Call the airline's reservations and explain what's happened. Then ask them what seats have been reserved in view of the change. Might be an idea to have seatGuru (Airline Seating Charts - Best Airplane Seats - SeatGuru (http://www.seatguru.com)) opened in front of you as you do this. I would imagine though that if the change took place since the original reservation they will have re-allocated you as a family and kept you together, but there no certainty of course.

[WHBM]

Both Air France (on a 747) and Air Mauritius (on an A340) operate at very similar times each day, and each codeshares on the other, with both thus appearing to offer two flights.

I am guessing your flight was booked with an agent rather than directly with Air Mauritius. Agents will, alas, commonly switch around reservations at time of ticket issue to suit themselves (eg oversold their allocation on the MK flight, Air France offered them £10 cheaper price, etc) and will give guff such as "the airline has changed their schedule" if you challenge them. This is particularly true of flight/hotel package operators.

If you have made a seat choice that will indeed be lost, on the basis that the aircraft you are now travelling in has a completely different seat configuration. You may have been reallocated equivalent seats, or they may be just in the pool, to be allocated when you check in.

The flight will be completely Air France crewed. You will see the MK flight number on the monitor, and may hear a word about it from the cabin crew at start-up. Otherwise nothing.

It's a common arrangement (although without the involuntary switching round), alas. I regularly travel from London Heathrow to Helsinki, where both BA and Finnair do this codeshare on all flights. The best fare deal is normally a BA flight number on a Finnair flight. With boarding by jetway there are a surprising number of UK-originating passengers who do not realise, even when they are sat in the plane, that they are not on BA. One commented once that "BA have new uniforms", while another said how nice of BA to put a Finland magazine in the seats for this flight !