A Codeshare is a commercial agreement where one airline sells seats on a flight that is physically operated by a partner airline.
Codesharing allows airlines to offer an incredibly vast global network without actually flying their own planes everywhere. For example, if you want to fly from Chicago to a small city in France, American Airlines will sell you a single ticket. American flies you to Paris, but the connection to the smaller city might be operated by Air France. Even though you bought an "American Airlines" ticket with an AA flight number, you are physically sitting on an Air France plane. The marketing carrier (the one selling the ticket) shares its two-letter airline code with the operating carrier (the one flying the plane). This is crucial for business class travelers because the hard product (the seat) and the soft product (the food and service) will be determined by the operating carrier, not the airline that sold you the ticket. Always check the phrase "Operated by..." when booking.
You typically earn miles based on the marketing carrier’s rules (the flight number on your ticket), but it depends on the specific alliance agreements.
You always check in at the terminal and desk of the operating carrier—the airline that is actually flying the plane.
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