confusion over Delta/Air France
 

I am confused.

1. need flight from SAN to BOS April 21 (probably AA for my ff)


2.need flight BOS to PAR April 24 with return to BOS May 25

3. BOS to SAN June 12

Here is confusion: on the BOS/PAR leg it shows
Delta Flight on Airbus A340 operated by AF as Flight 337

From PAR to BOS you cam get AF332 OR Delta 8604 operated by AF as Flight 332 (is this the same plane??)

Does it matter who I buy from?

Thanks again for the help..

These are called "code share" services, in which one airline puts its own flight number on partner airline's planes. Delta and Air France are partners, and the flights you mention are both Air France "metal" carrying both Delta as well as Air France flight numbers. The service will be Air France's, you'll check in at the Air France counter, etc.

It only matters who you buy from if you're a member of Delta's frequent flyer program and want to be sure you get full credit for the flights. Even then, check prices, because sometimes the airline "sharing" the flights (in this case Delta) charge more for the ticket than you'd pay by going to Air France directly.

If you're a member of AA's FF plan (you mention that regarding SAN-BOS) then of course you won't get credit for the BOS-CDG flights. If you're a member of Alaska's FF plan you can get credit for both the AA flights and the DL/AF flights - details on www.alaskaair.com.

Yup, same plane. Just different flight numbers. Some flights can have have up to 10 different airlines codesharing on the same flight.

It doesn't really matter who you buy the flight from - although points/miles may vary depending upon flight number.

I would usually prefer to book with the operating carrier, though.

As usual you have come through for me...thanks.

Yup. Just look at the flight monitors at the airport. There will be four seemingly separate flights to City X leaving at the exact same time, when actually they are the same flight but with four different flight numbers for all the airlines sharing the code on that flight.