With angry pictures of Chinese families accusing Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines of neglect and murder filtering in from Beijing, many in Malaysia are now asking why China Southern is not bearing part of the responsibility.
This is because MH370 was also marketed as China Southern Airlines Flight 748 (CZ748), with some on board holding China Southern tickets.
The Montreal Convention, which governs civil aviation, states that both the contracting carrier and the actual carrier can be held liable for injury, death and losses on board.
In this case, MAS is the actual carrier with China Southern being the contracting carrier, and passengers' next-of-kin can seek damages from either airline.
The Montreal Convention - formally known as the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air - has been ratified by both China and Malaysia.
Legal precedent in the United States also states that both airlines in a code share agreement can be held liable.
In one case, a passenger purchased a ticket from American Eagle Airline but boarded a flight operated by Executive Airlines because of a code-share arrangement.
The passenger fell out of the airplane as he was trying to get the attention of baggage handlers, to check-in his carry-on baggage that was too large to fit the overhead cabin.
The court found that in this case, both airlines were liable, with the contracting airline liable for the whole carriage and the actual carrier for the portion it performs.
In the case of MH370, there has been scant or no news of how China Southern has responded to families of passengers who had purchased the tickets through the airline.
Differing results in US and China
Terry Rolfe, an aviation practice expert from Integro Insurance Brokers, told CNBC that any MH370 claim brought to the US court system could lead to a payout of at least US$8 million (RM 26.2 million) per passenger.
The figure is estimated to be significantly lower, at less than US$ 1 million (RM3.28 million) per passenger, in the Chinese courts.
To date, no lawsuit has been filed against any airline after the March 8 disappearance of MH370.
However, a party purportedly related to Indonesian passenger Firman Chandra Siregar has, via a Chicago law firm, submitted a petition to obtain information from MAS and aircraft manufacturer Boeing in a prelude to legal action.
However, Firman's brother-in-law Clemens Triaji Bektikusuma, on behalf of Firman's family, denied that the family has hired the American law firm or submitted any petition.
He added that Januari Siregar, named in the petition, has no authority to do so from the 24-year-old engineer's family.
