[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

Based on previous posts (by others) on this board airline alliance bookings, particularly when it involves overseas travel, is a situation comparable to a booking through a travel agent.

Apparently there are times when people have encountered problems with their reservations, and they've been dealing with an alliance partner they did NOT do the booking with. The response to said problems has been a brush-off: "Call XYZ Airlines." Accordingly, sometimes it may be better, when traveling with more than one airline in the same alliance, to book with, say, the non-US-based airline. Indeed, the Contracts of Carriage of many airlines specifically disclaims a substantial amount of liability with respect to travel on other airlines.

As an example: To travel from an airport near my home--Billings, Mont. ("BIL"), to Hamburg, I could do a booking with one of two airlines--United or Lufthansa. Since Lufthansa, and not United, does the flying between the German "gateway"/hub city, Frankfurt, a booking with Lufthansa provides "coverage" for any problems that could arise with respect to the Frankfurt-Hamburg flight. True, one then does have "exposure" as to United flights, in this example, in the USA.