I'll preface by saying I've had great luck in the past as far as delays go - I've frequently had gate workers seemingly work magic to get me on a flight after I've had one delayed/canceled, whether it be another of their own or even letting me board on another airline's flight. I've just earlier had a situation which rubbed me the wrong way.
I purchased a ticket through Air Serbia for codeshared flight from Belgrade to Sarajevo operated by BH Airlines. I (US national) have flown Air Serbia before without any problems. I arrived for the 815 flight, and we boarded the plane, only to have equipment trouble to force us to deplane. It happens, no worries.
We were delayed for three hours at which point thesis port rep stated he had no idea when we were going to take off and we all needed to return inside the terminal. 3 more hours go by, same story. No information, the "expected departure" simply pushed back by 30 minutes each time it reaches the listed time. Even at this point, it's no big deal.
My question/annoyance though comes from my discussion with a rather rude terminal agent. A gate agent at another gate, which was launching an Air Serbia flight to SJJ said I should go talk to this lady and see if I could get on the flight, which wasn't even half full. She, though quote promptly told me that this wasn't her problem and that I shouldn't even be speaking with her. This is where I questioned the rationale - since I bought my ticket through Air Serbia, in all other cases like this I've found that it would be their duty to fix the situation regardless of the operator of the flight. I'm not saying it's their duty to get me on that specific flight of course, but I'm confused as to why she would say that they have nothing to do with the situation. Can anyone help with an explanation?
And for those wondering, it all worked out - a few hours later I was finally able to board another delayed BH flight and arrive.