The dominant marketing or operating airline is determined based on all flight segments a passenger takes during a trip. It represents the airline that contributes most significantly to the itinerary.

For example, consider a passenger traveling from SYR to SYD on the following itinerary:

  • SYR–LGA on US Airways

  • LGA–LAX on US Airways

  • LAX–SYD on Qantas

In this case, Qantas (QF) is considered the dominant airline, as it operates the most significant segment of the trip.

There are two common methods for determining dominance:

  1. Mileage-Based Method (Preferred): Sum the segment mileage for each airline. The airline with the highest total mileage across all segments is considered dominant.

  2. Longest Segment Shortcut: As a simplified alternative, some methods designate the airline operating the longest single segment of the trip as the dominant carrier.

Dominant Airline