Collaborative agreements among airlines can improve service and reduce prices.
They can also introduce new challenges.
Because collaborative airline transactions require information to be processed by multiple companies, they can result in increased difficulties.
For example, the checking of baggage can be delayed because the primary company may not permit bags to be checked online through its own service because one leg of a trip might be completed through the secondary company, while the secondary company may not permit bags to be checked online because the reservation was made through the primary company.
Such a scenario serves only to decrease customer satisfaction.