Have separate ticketed flights later this year QF award Mel/Lax, AA revenue Lax/USA, same outbound.
Telephone conversation today:
QF answer "No" baggage interline..can you please look at the QF agency interline baggage advice..QF mmmm please wait..few minutes later..that's just a QF exemption we will interline award/revenue baggage..does that mean we also receive boarding passes..QF I don't know what the airport does. Sadly I need to collect bags at Lax for customs..QF yep..
If QF in MEL add the AA revenue ticket into the checkin system (Altea) as an oncarriage flight then bags will be tagged through to the final destination and you will receive the AA boarding pass (unless flight is oversold so pre-allocate a seat asap if you are able). You will still need to collect your bag in LAX just as you would if both flights were on the same ticket. After you've dropped your bag after customs in TBIT turn right and go through the TSA screening point there which saves you walking outside on the pavement and going through TSA at T4,5 or 6. You must have an onward boarding pass ex LAX to go through TSA.
what about return flights as I will be checking in with AA..QF cannot speak for other airlines this is a Qantas exemption only. QF did advise baggage allowance remains as per each separate ticket.
That's not correct as the example is unworkable - you can't tag bags eg MEL QF LAX AA MIA where you get two free bags to LAX then have to charge LAX/MIA for the AA flight as the accepting airline at the point of departure (in this case QF) cannot collect charges for what the onward carrier (AA) charges from a downline port. If an airline is tagging bags MEL QF LAX AA MIA then if any excess charges are payable the rates are from the point of origin to final destination ie MEL to MIA.
Therefore the baggage allowance will be whatever QF's is ie 2 pc per person if you are NB with QF or 3 pc if PS or above. If you had no OW elite status and would ordinarily need to pay for bags on AA, having bags through checked to your final AA destination exempts you from AA baggage fees.
AA answer "No" baggage interline on separate tickets and no exemption for award/revenue. AA did suggest speak to check in as status may give a "one off" exemption and arrrr! mmm! some agents seem to be able to place the flights into the one booking which allows us to interline baggage. Thank you AA.
Thread discussion is spot on..flights not in the same PNR basically means interline is dead.
AA do not do anybody any favours re interlining bags on separate tickets. IME travelling as a QF WP or 'Executive Platinum' to use AA parlance as they don't really recognise OWE (which is not necessarily a bad thing) even on AA metal they flat out refused to checkin on separate AA pnrs so I would think you would have the proverbial snowballs chance in hell of AA interlining to QF.
Some AA checkin agents may well have had some discretionary powers to do "one-off' exemptions due to status in the past, however 'them days is over' as they say in the South.
If all your AA flights are in the same AA pnr it's possible that if/when QF in MEL add the AA oncarriage flight at checkin that the remainder of the AA flights will also be attached to the checkin record in Altea. If this happens when you checkin with AA on the way home they *may* be able to see your oncarriage QF flight.
When you checkin with AA do not mention separate tickets, just mention you're flying to LAX on AA then connecting on QF to MEL. They won't be shy in telling you if they cannot see your onward QF flight.