Oneworld separate ticket interline changes

[Himeno]

I have an AA flight from DFW-LAX in January, connecting to QF16. These are unfortunately on separate tickets as I was not sure of my arrangements at the time I booked, and because QF16 was booked online with Qantas, I can't add any sectors to it.

Noting that AA will likely no longer through check on separate PNRs (although I will still ask), does anyone know whether I can collect my bags from T4, check them in with QF at TBIT, and then walk back to T4 to use the Flagship Checkin so as to get the expedited security access?

I would then just use the connector to go back to TBIT - or maybe even try the new LAX lounge if it is open. I know this seems roundabout, but last time the "priority" line at TBIT was so slow, it would probably still be faster. I am OWE so I read that I would technically be eligible to use the Flagship service at LAX.

Has anyone done this?

Similar to DFW, where an AA flight could use any of 4 terminals, they could use any of 3 terminals at LAX. AA has the 10ish gates in T4, 4 gates in T5 (+ the remote terminal which is now considered part of T5) and 1st right to 4 gates in TBIT. If the AA flight is operated by a regional contract carrier as American Eagle, it will use T5. If it is mainline, it could use TBIT (more often in the morning), T4 or T5.

Would be better to go to TBIT to check in with QF, then instead of going upstairs to the main TBIT checkpoint, go downstairs to the arrivals level and use the connections checkpoint in the connector building.
I did that in July after checking in for QF94 and there was only 1 group ahead of me in the line.

 

[MarcB]

Similar to DFW, where an AA flight could use any of 4 terminals, they could use any of 3 terminals at LAX. AA has the 10ish gates in T4, 4 gates in T5 (+ the remote terminal which is now considered part of T5) and 1st right to 4 gates in TBIT. If the AA flight is operated by a regional contract carrier as American Eagle, it will use T5. If it is mainline, it could use TBIT (more often in the morning), T4 or T5.

Would be better to go to TBIT to check in with QF, then instead of going upstairs to the main TBIT checkpoint, go downstairs to the arrivals level and use the connections checkpoint in the connector building.
I did that in July after checking in for QF94 and there was only 1 group ahead of me in the line.

Great tip - I have not used the connections checkpoint yet, and did not realise it would be accessible. I will still hope for a good agent in DFW who will through check and save me the hassle.

 

[madrooster]

An update on through-checking on awards...

Background:

I'm in the middle of a 280k award at the moment and I have a total of 20 flights in one PNR. 14/20 flights form part of the 280k award, with the remaining 6/20 being paid for separately as commercial tickets.

This PNR consists of three tickets:

Ticket #1 is the 280k award on QF (081) ticket stock
Ticket #2 is a combo of SA+BA on BA (125) ticket stock
Ticket #3 is WS on HR (169) ticket stock

The commercial tickets were added long after the 280k award was finalised.

Test case #1:

QF to JNB, overnight, then BA onwards.

QF flight was on the 280k award ticket, and the BA flight was on a commercial ticket.

Result:

QF OLCI could only go as far as JNB.

QF airport check in could see the onwards BA flight but could not issue a BP for the BA flight nor through-check the bag - this is expected as JNB officially is marked as a closed airport overnight.

BA the next morning could see that I came in on QF.

Test case #2:

SA domestic, approx 3 hour connection, then QR long haul to DOH.

SA flight was on a commercial ticket, and the QR flight was on the 280k award ticket.

Result:

SA OLCI could see the QR flight to DOH and checked me in for both the SA and QR flights.

SA airport check in could see the onwards QR flight. They through-checked the bag and issued both the SA and QR BPs without batting an eyelid.

QR could see that I came in on SA.

SA OLCI:



SA issued BPs at airport check in:



Test case #3:

BA short haul, overnight at LON, then BA long haul, approx 8 hour connection, then CX short haul, overnight, then WS domestic

Both BA flights were on the 280k award ticket, CX flight was on the 280k award ticket, and WS flight was on a commercial ticket.

Result:

BA OLCI didn't work at all - "too many flights in your booking" error. This error isn't specific to this PNR, I've encountered this error numerous times with long PNRs.

BA airport check in through-checked all the way to the final WS domestic destination, and issued all four BPs for BA/BA/CX/WS but only tagged the bags to LON due to the overnight (specifically requested).

The next morning, BA airport check in tagged the bags all the way to the final WS domestic destination. The transit airports in between are not marked as closed overnight, thus making this possible. Second overnight was spent without the checked bags (intended).

CX could see that I came in from BA. WS could see that I came in from BA and CX.

As a side benefit that also meant that I was exempted from paying the WS checked bag fees.

BA issued BPs:



Bottom line...

The airlines don't seem to care who they are through-checking to, oneworld or not.

In particular, BA has publicly stated in various pieces of documentation that they will not through-check to non-oneworld. However, the above results prove otherwise. No one batted an eyelid at both BA airport check ins.

 

[flychrisfly]

An update on through-checking on awards...

Bottom line...

The airlines don't seem to care who they are through-checking to, oneworld or not.

In particular, BA has publicly stated in various pieces of documentation that they will not through-check to non-oneworld. However, the above results prove otherwise. No one batted an eyelid at both BA airport check ins.

Hmm, but since all segments were in one PNR doesn't this by-pass the issue? Also, BA and WS (non-oneworld) have an interline agreement, I believe.

 

[Himeno]

Hmm, but since all segments were in one PNR doesn't this by-pass the issue? Also, BA and WS (non-oneworld) have an interline agreement, I believe.

BA has the following interline agreements

MAY ISSUE TICKETS INCLUDING
AA AB AC AE AF AH AI AM AS AT AV AY AZ A3
A9 BA BD BE BI BL BM BP BR BT BW B6 CA CI
CM CX CZ DL DT EC EI EK ET EY FB FI FJ FV
GA GF GK G3 HA HG HM HP HU HX IB IC IG JC
JJ JL JP JQ JU JY J2 KA KC KE KK KL KM KP
KQ KU KX LA LG LH LI LM LO LP LR LX LY ME
MH MI MK MN MS MU MX NH NU NZ OA OK OM OS
OU OZ PG PR PS PW PX PZ QF QI QM QR RB RJ
RO SA SB SN SQ SS SU SV SW S7 TA TF TG TJ
TK TM TN TP TU T0 UA UK UL UP UU U0 U7 VN
VS VY WF WM WS WY XK XL XM X5 2K 2N 3K 3U
4C 4M 5T 7H 9B 9W

MAY CHECK BAGGAGE TO
AA AB AC AE AF AH AI AS AT AV AY AZ A3 A9
BA BD BE BI BL BM BP BR BT BW B6 CA CI CM
CX CZ DL DT EC EI EK ET EY FB FI FJ FV GA
GF GK G3 HA HG HM HP HU HX IB IC IG JC JJ
JL JP JQ JU JY J2 KA KC KE KK KL KM KP KQ
KU KX LA LG LH LI LM LO LP LR LX LY ME MI
MK MN MS MU MX NH NU NZ OA OK OM OS OU OZ
PG PR PS PW PX PZ QF QI QM QR RB RO SA SB
SN SQ SU SV SW S7 TA TG TJ TK TM TN TP TU
T0 UA UK UP UU U0 U7 VN VS VY WF WM WS WY
XK XL XM X5 2K 2N 3K 3U 4C 4M 7H 9B 9W

 

[madrooster]

Hmm, but since all segments were in one PNR doesn't this by-pass the issue? Also, BA and WS (non-oneworld) have an interline agreement, I believe.

Just because all segments were in one PNR does not automatically mean through-check is possible.

It's still a requirement that the accepting carrier (the carrier performing the check in) has interline agreements with all of the downline carriers being through-checked to.

Furthermore, if the accepting carrier does not have an IATCI agreement with one of the downline carriers, then the accepting carrier cannot issue a BP on behalf of that carrier. Through-checking of bags remains possible - just no BP can be printed.

 

[serfty]

Great tip - I have not used the connections checkpoint yet, and did not realise it would be accessible.

Sure is; generally a great way to skip the main TBIT queues. It come out mid T4/TBIT connector - go left fo T4 and right for TBIT, even better it's at the same level as the QF TBIT lounges.

More here on FT:

LAX AA T-4 - TBIT secure airside connector (open Feb 2016) - Page 6 - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[madrooster]

Continuing on from post #703...

Test case #4:

WS domestic, 3 hour connection, then CX long haul to HKG, then an all day long transit, then CX long haul to Australia, a 2 hour connection and finally QF domestic to SYD.

WS flight was on a commercial ticket, and the two CX flights + the QF flight were on the 280k award ticket.

Result:

CX allows OLCI at T-48h (from the first CX flight). CX OLCI would not permit OLCI at T-48h, throwing an error that flights must be checked in in order. It had detected the WS flight and despite the WS flight being on a separate ticket, it could see that the WS flight was not checked in (WS OLCI opens at T-24h).

I believe this is a new restriction that CX has only recently introduced since July 2017 - I've not had this problem before checking in flights out of order.

Once WS OLCI opened at T-24h (from the WS flight departure time), WS OLCI through-checked all the way to Australia (WS/CX/CX) but not the final QF domestic (it was at that point something like 70+ hours from the departure of the QF domestic).

WS OLCI issued BPs for the WS flight and the CX flight to HKG but it did not issue a BP for HKG to Australia, even though I could see that WS had checked me in for the HKG-Australia flight (by checking the ticket coupon status).

At the airport, the WS check in kiosks behaved the same as OLCI. It showed all 4 flights (WS/CX/CX/QF), asked for a passport but only printed BPs for the WS flight and the CX flight to HKG only.

The WS check in counter was able to print 3 BPs (WS/CX/CX) to Australia but again couldn't print the QF domestic one (roughly 55 hours before the departure time of the QF domestic flight). They had no issues tagging the bags all the way to SYD (WS/CX/CX/QF). They also waived the bag fees (ticketed as no allowance) as I was connecting to international.

At the CX check in counter after the WS flight, CX was able to finally print the QF domestic BP (at that point it was < 48 hours before the departure time for QF domestic).

WS check in kiosk:



WS printed bag tag:

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Test case #1:

QF to JNB, overnight, then BA onwards.

QF flight was on the 280k award ticket, and the BA flight was on a commercial ticket.

Result:

QF OLCI could only go as far as JNB.

QF airport check in could see the onwards BA flight but could not issue a BP for the BA flight nor through-check the bag - this is expected as JNB officially is marked as a closed airport overnight.

BA the next morning could see that I came in on QF.

That would be an identical scenario even if it was all on the one ticket. If your BA or SA onwards flight was on the same day irrespective of whether it was the same ticket or just the same booking, if the CSA can see the oncarriage flights Altea would do the checkin as normal observing in interline baggage and/or IATCI agreements.

If an airport is closed overnight then the system parameters set would inhibit any through checkin - even if the overnight transit was only 10 hours eg BNE QF SYD on a Tuesday night then SYD LA SCL on a Wednesday morning.

Test case #2:

SA domestic, approx 3 hour connection, then QR long haul to DOH.

SA flight was on a commercial ticket, and the QR flight was on the 280k award ticket.

Result:

SA OLCI could see the QR flight to DOH and checked me in for both the SA and QR flights.

SA airport check in could see the onwards QR flight. They through-checked the bag and issued both the SA and QR BPs without batting an eyelid.

QR could see that I came in on SA.

It seems that like the QF example in test case 1 above, if the flights are in the same booking (even if on separate tickets) then the accepting airline just assumes the flights are on the same ticket as it wouldn't look any different in the checkin system to flights all on the same ticket ie the oncarriage flights are already visible

Test case #3:

BA short haul, overnight at LON, then BA long haul, approx 8 hour connection, then CX short haul, overnight, then WS domestic

Both BA flights were on the 280k award ticket, CX flight was on the 280k award ticket, and WS flight was on a commercial ticket.

Result:

BA OLCI didn't work at all - "too many flights in your booking" error. This error isn't specific to this PNR, I've encountered this error numerous times with long PNRs.

BA airport check in through-checked all the way to the final WS domestic destination, and issued all four BPs for BA/BA/CX/WS but only tagged the bags to LON due to the overnight (specifically requested).

The next morning, BA airport check in tagged the bags all the way to the final WS domestic destination. The transit airports in between are not marked as closed overnight, thus making this possible. Second overnight was spent without the checked bags (intended).

CX could see that I came in from BA. WS could see that I came in from BA and CX.

As a side benefit that also meant that I was exempted from paying the WS checked bag fees.

BA must've assumed that it's all on the one ticket as they can already see the oncarriage flights due to flights being on the same pnr even though on different tickets.

Bottom line...

The airlines don't seem to care who they are through-checking to, oneworld or not.

In particular, BA has publicly stated in various pieces of documentation that they will not through-check to non-oneworld. However, the above results prove otherwise. No one batted an eyelid at both BA airport check ins.

I think what airlines fail to grasp is there are in fact two scenarios at play:

1. Flights that are on the same ticket and therefore in the same pnr
2. Flights that are on separate tickets but in the same pnr that don't look any different (in the airline checkin system) to flights all on the one ticket.

Continuing on from post #703...

Test case #4:

WS domestic, 3 hour connection, then CX long haul to HKG, then an all day long transit, then CX long haul to Australia, a 2 hour connection and finally QF domestic to SYD.

WS flight was on a commercial ticket, and the two CX flights + the QF flight were on the 280k award ticket.

Result:

CX allows OLCI at T-48h (from the first CX flight). CX OLCI would not permit OLCI at T-48h, throwing an error that flights must be checked in in order. It had detected the WS flight and despite the WS flight being on a separate ticket, it could see that the WS flight was not checked in (WS OLCI opens at T-24h).

I believe this is a new restriction that CX has only recently introduced since July 2017 - I've not had this problem before checking in flights out of order.

Once WS OLCI opened at T-24h (from the WS flight departure time), WS OLCI through-checked all the way to Australia (WS/CX/CX) but not the final QF domestic (it was at that point something like 70+ hours from the departure of the QF domestic).

WS OLCI issued BPs for the WS flight and the CX flight to HKG but it did not issue a BP for HKG to Australia, even though I could see that WS had checked me in for the HKG-Australia flight (by checking the ticket coupon status).

At the airport, the WS check in kiosks behaved the same as OLCI. It showed all 4 flights (WS/CX/CX/QF), asked for a passport but only printed BPs for the WS flight and the CX flight to HKG only.

The WS check in counter was able to print 3 BPs (WS/CX/CX) to Australia but again couldn't print the QF domestic one (roughly 55 hours before the departure time of the QF domestic flight). They had no issues tagging the bags all the way to SYD (WS/CX/CX/QF). They also waived the bag fees (ticketed as no allowance) as I was connecting to international.

At the CX check in counter after the WS flight, CX was able to finally print the QF domestic BP (at that point it was < 48 hours before the departure time for QF domestic).

Not sure what the policy is for WS and through checking on separate tickets when those tickets are on separate pnrs meaning you would have to tell the CSA what oncarriage flights you're on and ask if they'll check bags through however it appears that they just assumed like in all the other above scenarios that because they could see the oncarriage flights then all flights must be on a single ticket.

 

[benjy]

JAL will be migrating to Amadeus on Nov 16, 2017 - FlyerTalk Forums

Any idea on how soon until we'll get to see JAL award seats appear on the Qantas online search tool?

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Qantas plans online reward bookings for Malaysia Airlines, JAL - Australian Business Traveller

Qantas plans to roll-out online reward bookings for Japan Airlines and China Eastern by the first half of 2018, once its IT requirements have been implemented by those carriers.

Top tips for booking Japan Airlines flights using Qantas Points - Australian Business Traveller

To make things easier in the longer term and as previously reported by AusBT, Qantas is working with Japan Airlines to introduce online bookings for JAL reward flights in “early 2018”, which will allow travellers to search for availability via the Qantas website and to book without needing to call.

In the meantime, there's a canny way to check online whether a specific Japan Airlines flight is open for booking using points, which involves searching via the British Airways website, and then calling Qantas to book your Japan Airlines flight using Qantas Points.

 

[PineappleSkip]

EK is also very good at through-check - e.g. when connecting to UL in London I deliberately chose the QF coded EK flights

Mmmm. EK ticket KBL-DXB, then separate CX ticket DXB-HKG-BNE, no link no nothing. Ever hopeful I produced both tickets at checkin. Voila! Bags checked, boarding passes right through. In KBL. I felt like I had been handed the holy grail.

 

[cmon0005]

Any recent experiences from people travelling on Award to rev booking, and whether QF through checked or not?

 

[Mac502]

Any recent experiences from people travelling on Award to rev booking, and whether QF through checked or not?

We had the kids and significant other on a points ticket QF to LAX, myself revenue ticket to LAX, and then all of us on another revenue ticket to Vancouver (AA) - QF allowed check in, boarding passes and bags checked all the way.

 

[cmon0005]

We had the kids and significant other on a points ticket QF to LAX, myself revenue ticket to LAX, and then all of us on another revenue ticket to Vancouver (AA) - QF allowed check in, boarding passes and bags checked all the way.

Was it done without question or did it require explanation from yourself?

I will be trying similar next week just trying to prepare myself haha.

 

[Mac502]

Was it done without question or did it require explanation from yourself?

I will be trying similar next week just trying to prepare myself haha.

No, my check in agent had to ask her coworker and only after I “suggested” that it was within the rules.

 

[cmon0005]

No, my check in agent had to ask her coworker and only after I “suggested” that it was within the rules.

Thanks, good to know.. will post back with how i go. Wish me luck..

 

[cmon0005]

No, my check in agent had to ask her coworker and only after I “suggested” that it was within the rules.

Update: my bags were tagged to MH without much fuss the agent seemed to know about the award to rev exemption so didn't require much explanation.
However for some unknown reason it wouldn't allow the agent to issue a boarding pass for the mh flight, he wasn't sure why, just putting it down to sometimes it allows us others not.
Fwiw mh are now on amadeus/altea so shouldn't have been a system issue?

Solution was to web check-in for mh, though at least bag was checked all the way through which was my main concern.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Update: my bags were tagged to MH without much fuss the agent seemed to know about the award to rev exemption so didn't require much explanation. However for some unknown reason it wouldn't allow the agent to issue a boarding pass for the mh flight, he wasn't sure why, just putting it down to sometimes it allows us others not.
Fwiw mh are now on amadeus/altea so shouldn't have been a system issue?

Solution was to web check-in for mh, though at least bag was checked all the way through which was my main concern.

The issuing of MH boarding passes is hit and miss and wouldn't have anything to do with being separate bookings. Sometimes it can be because the MH flight may be close to full and MH have blocked some seats off meaning there is no physical seat that can be allocated at checkin so pax would need to see MH in the city where they board the MH flight.

 

[cmon0005]

The issuing of MH boarding passes is hit and miss and wouldn't have anything to do with being separate bookings. Sometimes it can be because the MH flight may be close to full and MH have blocked some seats off meaning there is no physical seat that can be allocated at checkin so pax would need to see MH in the city where they board the MH flight.

I was booked in business and had allocated seats already for a while. I was traveling with a child not sure if that made any difference?