Oneworld separate ticket interline changes

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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?

I think sometimes the link goes down between the airlines with IATCI so not sure if the system had actually checked you in on MH but couldn't generate a messaage back to print boarding passes. LAN and JQi can be hit and miss at times so it's always good to have a buffer of 3 hours to allow you to get from T3 to T1 and checkin there.
 
I think sometimes the link goes down between the airlines with IATCI so not sure if the system had actually checked you in on MH but couldn't generate a messaage back to print boarding passes. LAN and JQi can be hit and miss at times so it's always good to have a buffer of 3 hours to allow you to get from T3 to T1 and checkin there.

It didn't check-in by qf; as when i did mh web check-in afterwards it said 'not checked in'.
However saying that when i was boarding in bkk they had to print my boarding passes i could see the altea? Screen and next to my mh flight in the remarks? Column it said 'from syd' interesting how that came to be there.

My itinerary was mel-syd(qf)-bkk(ek/qf code) on one Y ticket then bkk-kul-lgk on sep mh j ticket. Bag only tagged to kul as have to clear customs in kul.
 
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.

Getting onward boarding passes has been an issue forever when there are multiple airlines (even on the same ticket). Asfar as I know, it is the main reason transfer desks exist at airports, - to deal with the boarding pass issue.
 
Getting onward boarding passes has been an issue forever when there are multiple airlines (even on the same ticket). Asfar as I know, it is the main reason transfer desks exist at airports, - to deal with the boarding pass issue.
I've had problems with some transfer desks before.
I've had every desk at DXB refuse to issue a QF boarding pass (even the desk with QF signage).
I've had desks at SIN refuse because it was "too early".
Had a desk at JFK tell me to move along/go away when I was trying to dig out the boarding pass for my connection that they wanted to see before accepting my baggage, that was already through checked.
I once connected at NRT. Transfer desk closed, no connecting pass issued. Had to have boarding pass to go through security. Connection boarding before transfer desk opened. Security staff had to call JL and get check I was on the flight I said I was, then get permission to let me through without a pass.
 
This is one of the most extreme tests one could possibly do for through-checking/through-tagging...

Scenario:

1 PNR
6 oneworld carriers (BA/AY/CX/UL/MH/QF), all of which are Amadeus carriers
8 flights (AY*BA/AY/AY/CX/UL/MH/MH/QF), one of which was a codeshare AY operated by BA
3 tickets (AY/UL/QF ticket stock)
3 all day or overnight long transits
4 continents
9 airports (referenced as AAA, BBB, CCC, DDD, EEE, FFF, GGG, HHH and final destination BNE)
...spanning about 5 days in J, for all but 1 flight

Day 1: Checking in with BA at AAA

BA uses a coughpy check in overlay GUI called FLY. They spent large sums of money on it, it's slow, it has single points of failures, it's been the cause of 7 major outages/delays since it was implemented, one of which shutdown the airline for a day and a half.

Going through the document check function in FLY... on swiping an AUS passport, for final destination BNE, it thought that I was fine to travel through each transit port... but I supposedly couldn't enter Australia with an Australian passport! No way to override it. Fail...

I found out that BA outstation supervisors do have access to native Amadeus Altea (what virtually every other Amadeus carrier uses for departure control), so it was clearly a BA business decision to make an overlay GUI, except that the airport's shared computer systems would crash each time an attempt was made to access Amadeus Altea.

The end result was a handwritten boarding pass. We did manage to get a bag tag printed. Bag was only tagged to BBB due to an overnight at BBB. FLY did give the option to tag to every transit port, including the final destination BNE.

Being on a codeshare didn't have any effect on the above situation.

I did also see another passenger with one PNR and more than one ticket in the same PNR have their bags through-tagged to LYS, so BA connecting to AF connecting to AF. BA couldn't check in the AF flights, but had no issues tagging the bag through to LYS. This is against BA's own published policy interestingly...

Day 2: Arriving at the BA arrivals lounge

FLY spat the dummy again wanting to do a document check, even just to scan me into the lounge! It even froze up their computer. They let me in without bothering.

I discovered that BA staff at BBB all had access to native Amadeus Altea, just that they aren't really meant to use it (by means of not having been trained on how to use it!). They were happy to let me guide them on how to print my onward boarding passes which was easy to do.

Boarding passes were printed up to flight #6 (destination GGG). Attempting to force it to check in any further than flight #6 in the chain was a no-go (I attempted a number of methods that are possible). All 8 flights were visible just fine, inclusive of the one I had just alighted from.

Day 3: Checking in with AY at BBB

AY has contract staff (Menzies) at BBB.

I asked for the bag to be tagged to GGG. This would've been 5 flights and resulted in 2 bag tags for 1 bag (3 flights per tag). The system is capable of doing such a thing, though the contract staff gave me a spiel about how they aren't allowed to print more than 1 bag tag per bag, ie. tag for 3 flights only.

I accepted the tagging to EEE only (I had enough time to re-check anyway). Boarding passes were printed again, up to and including flight #6.

Day 3: Transiting with AY at CCC

I enquired at the transit desk at CCC whether AY contract staff at BBB were correct about not being to print multiple bag tags per bag and they confirmed what I already knew - multiple bag tags (ie. more than 3 flights) was perfectly fine.

At that point I asked for a 'BCO' aka baggage change order to be put in to spit out the bag at CCC. I exited to arrivals and had my bag within 15 mins and took the bag upstairs to re-check it. For the record, most airlines can do a BCO - but airline staff generally refuse to do them claiming it's not possible, which is untrue.

No issues printing the tag to GGG this time, as per my original request earlier in the day. They printed me another set of boarding passes... again up to and including flight #6.

Attempting to force through check in beyond flight #6 was still a no, even after having flown 2/8 flights.

Day 4: Transiting from AY to CX at DDD

No issues at DDD. CX confirmed the bag tag number was registered on their end.

Day 4: Transiting from CX to UL at EEE

No issues at EEE. UL confirmed the bag tag number was registered on their end.

Day 5: Transiting from UL to MH at FFF

No issues at FFF. MH confirmed the bag tag number was registered on their end.

Day 6: Arriving at GGG with MH

Bag didn't turn up on the carousel, but MH confirmed it had been scanned in at GGG not long prior. It was suspected it had fallen off a baggage cart or something enroute to the arrivals baggage belts.

Bag was found shortly after and re-routed on to HHH.

MH at GGG (6/8 flights flown at this point) were finally able to print a boarding pass for flights #7 and #8.

Day 6: Arriving at HHH with MH

Bag was collected at HHH and rechecked with QF to final destination BNE.

Summary...

1. Amadeus carriers can only through check in up to 6 flights.

2. The downline carriers (in this case AY, CX, UL) cannot force check in any further than the 6th flight in the chain, even after flying the first few flights. Effectively a new 'chain' starts from flight #7 onwards (presumably to flight #12 if it existed).

3. Any airline in the chain of 8 flights can tag bags through to the 8th flight's destination (BNE in this case). It is possible to tag bags through to a flight that you are not checked in on.

4. It is worth checking with each carrier enroute that they have your bag tag number(s) registered correctly.

I hope this illustrates what is truly possible when everything is on one PNR :cool:
 
This is one of the most extreme tests one could possibly do for through-checking/through-tagging...

Scenario:

1 PNR
6 oneworld carriers (BA/AY/CX/UL/MH/QF), all of which are Amadeus carriers
8 flights (AY*BA/AY/AY/CX/UL/MH/MH/QF), one of which was a codeshare AY operated by BA
3 tickets (AY/UL/QF ticket stock)
3 all day or overnight long transits
4 continents
9 airports (referenced as AAA, BBB, CCC, DDD, EEE, FFF, GGG, HHH and final destination BNE)
...spanning about 5 days in J, for all but 1 flight

Day 1: Checking in with BA at AAA

BA uses a coughpy check in overlay GUI called FLY. They spent large sums of money on it, it's slow, it has single points of failures, it's been the cause of 7 major outages/delays since it was implemented, one of which shutdown the airline for a day and a half.

Going through the document check function in FLY... on swiping an AUS passport, for final destination BNE, it thought that I was fine to travel through each transit port... but I supposedly couldn't enter Australia with an Australian passport! No way to override it. Fail...

I found out that BA outstation supervisors do have access to native Amadeus Altea (what virtually every other Amadeus carrier uses for departure control), so it was clearly a BA business decision to make an overlay GUI, except that the airport's shared computer systems would crash each time an attempt was made to access Amadeus Altea.

The end result was a handwritten boarding pass. We did manage to get a bag tag printed. Bag was only tagged to BBB due to an overnight at BBB. FLY did give the option to tag to every transit port, including the final destination BNE.

Being on a codeshare didn't have any effect on the above situation.

I did also see another passenger with one PNR and more than one ticket in the same PNR have their bags through-tagged to LYS, so BA connecting to AF connecting to AF. BA couldn't check in the AF flights, but had no issues tagging the bag through to LYS. This is against BA's own published policy interestingly...

Day 2: Arriving at the BA arrivals lounge

FLY spat the dummy again wanting to do a document check, even just to scan me into the lounge! It even froze up their computer. They let me in without bothering.

I discovered that BA staff at BBB all had access to native Amadeus Altea, just that they aren't really meant to use it (by means of not having been trained on how to use it!). They were happy to let me guide them on how to print my onward boarding passes which was easy to do.

Boarding passes were printed up to flight #6 (destination GGG). Attempting to force it to check in any further than flight #6 in the chain was a no-go (I attempted a number of methods that are possible). All 8 flights were visible just fine, inclusive of the one I had just alighted from.

Day 3: Checking in with AY at BBB

AY has contract staff (Menzies) at BBB.

I asked for the bag to be tagged to GGG. This would've been 5 flights and resulted in 2 bag tags for 1 bag (3 flights per tag). The system is capable of doing such a thing, though the contract staff gave me a spiel about how they aren't allowed to print more than 1 bag tag per bag, ie. tag for 3 flights only.

I accepted the tagging to EEE only (I had enough time to re-check anyway). Boarding passes were printed again, up to and including flight #6.

Day 3: Transiting with AY at CCC

I enquired at the transit desk at CCC whether AY contract staff at BBB were correct about not being to print multiple bag tags per bag and they confirmed what I already knew - multiple bag tags (ie. more than 3 flights) was perfectly fine.

At that point I asked for a 'BCO' aka baggage change order to be put in to spit out the bag at CCC. I exited to arrivals and had my bag within 15 mins and took the bag upstairs to re-check it. For the record, most airlines can do a BCO - but airline staff generally refuse to do them claiming it's not possible, which is untrue.

No issues printing the tag to GGG this time, as per my original request earlier in the day. They printed me another set of boarding passes... again up to and including flight #6.

Attempting to force through check in beyond flight #6 was still a no, even after having flown 2/8 flights.

Day 4: Transiting from AY to CX at DDD

No issues at DDD. CX confirmed the bag tag number was registered on their end.

Day 4: Transiting from CX to UL at EEE

No issues at EEE. UL confirmed the bag tag number was registered on their end.

Day 5: Transiting from UL to MH at FFF

No issues at FFF. MH confirmed the bag tag number was registered on their end.

Day 6: Arriving at GGG with MH

Bag didn't turn up on the carousel, but MH confirmed it had been scanned in at GGG not long prior. It was suspected it had fallen off a baggage cart or something enroute to the arrivals baggage belts.

Bag was found shortly after and re-routed on to HHH.

MH at GGG (6/8 flights flown at this point) were finally able to print a boarding pass for flights #7 and #8.

Day 6: Arriving at HHH with MH

Bag was collected at HHH and rechecked with QF to final destination BNE.

Summary...

1. Amadeus carriers can only through check in up to 6 flights.

2. The downline carriers (in this case AY, CX, UL) cannot force check in any further than the 6th flight in the chain, even after flying the first few flights. Effectively a new 'chain' starts from flight #7 onwards (presumably to flight #12 if it existed).

3. Any airline in the chain of 8 flights can tag bags through to the 8th flight's destination (BNE in this case). It is possible to tag bags through to a flight that you are not checked in on.

4. It is worth checking with each carrier enroute that they have your bag tag number(s) registered correctly.

I hope this illustrates what is truly possible when everything is on one PNR :cool:

Phew! I'm totally wiped out, just reading that!
But thank you for the entertainment. :)

In a much more modest scenario, I was amused that, on a recent trip, QF could/would not check my bags through from MEL to my final destination of DAC, as I was transferring to TG in SIN. As I expected, of course, but it did mean going through Customs and Immi to enter and collect bag, and then rinse and repeat.

On the return flight, the TG check in person said: "Why ever not?" when I gently enquired if it would be possible to check my bag through to MEL, with a transfer to QF from SIN. Different PNR into the bargain! :):):)
 
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Phew! I'm totally wiped out, just reading that!
But thank you for the entertainment. :)

In a much more modest scenario, I was amused that, on a recent trip, QF could/would not check my bags through from MEL to my final destination of DAC, as I was transferring to TG in SIN. As I expected, of course, but it did mean going through Customs and Immi to enter and collect bag, and then rinse and repeat.

On the return flight, the TG check in person said: "Why ever not?" when I gently enquired if it would be possible to check my bag through to MEL, with a transfer to QF from SIN. Different PNR into the bargain! :):):)

Could you have approached the TG transfer desk and asked to retrieve and retag?
SIN is usually pretty good at this.
 
They used to do it at Changi ... not sure these days as the website content indicates otherwise.
 
BNE-HKG today, connecting to HEL, all on a single AY ticket with AY flight numbers. 17hr layover. Couldn't through check bag or issue onward BPs because 'HKG is all I have in my system'. Didn't quibble with this random act of denial because only a minor inconvenience. But not impressive.

Cheers skip
 
BNE-HKG today, connecting to HEL, all on a single AY ticket with AY flight numbers. 17hr layover. Couldn't through check bag or issue onward BPs because 'HKG is all I have in my system'. Didn't quibble with this random act of denial because only a minor inconvenience. But not impressive.

Cheers skip

Could this be the reason?

My guess is you flew CX156 -> AY100.

I don't believe the issue is to do with the length of the layover given it's just an all day one and not overnight.

I've ticketed other passengers, and also personally flown with even longer layovers in HKG eg. CX138 -> AY100 and there was no issue with baggage going through. I've also done CX138 -> CX872 which is a layover that's just as long and there were no issues.

I've also done numerous combinations from North America -> Australia via HKG where it's been an all day layover, even with the next flight being the next calendar day just past midnight, eg. CX883 -> CX101. CX889 -> CX101, CX889 -> CX105 etc.

To go even further, two months ago I tested the limits of through-checking a few posts back (Oneworld separate ticket interline changes) ... with overnight layovers thrown in the mix and also had no issues.

It might be more to do with who you booked with and what system they use. The above examples were all ticketed in Amadeus which is the same system CX and AY use. Who did you book with if you are comfortable disclosing that?
 
My guess is you flew CX156 -> AY100.

I don't believe the issue is to do with the length of the layover given it's just an all day one and not overnight.

I've ticketed other passengers, and also personally flown with even longer layovers in HKG eg. CX138 -> AY100 and there was no issue with baggage going through. I've also done CX138 -> CX872 which is a layover that's just as long and there were no issues.

I've also done numerous combinations from North America -> Australia via HKG where it's been an all day layover, even with the next flight being the next calendar day just past midnight, eg. CX883 -> CX101. CX889 -> CX101, CX889 -> CX105 etc.

To go even further, two months ago I tested the limits of through-checking a few posts back (Oneworld separate ticket interline changes) ... with overnight layovers thrown in the mix and also had no issues.

It might be more to do with who you booked with and what system they use. The above examples were all ticketed in Amadeus which is the same system CX and AY use. Who did you book with if you are comfortable disclosing that?
Is it possible the agent didn't move through to the next 'page' of the ticket and the next sector wasn't visible because the that segment didn't show up on the screen they were looking at?
 
Is it possible the agent didn't move through to the next 'page' of the ticket and the next sector wasn't visible because the that segment didn't show up on the screen they were looking at?

No.

CX would be the accepting carrier in this case and CX uses Amadeus Altea for departure control. All flights come up on one screen, line by line. In my January test case, all 8 flights showed up line by line on a single display. The screen will show well past 10 flights if there were that many, assuming each of the 9 transits is < 24 hours.

The display is not ticket based, just merely what confirmed flight segments are in the PNR. Even unticketed flight segments would be displayed, as long as they are confirmed.

An attempt to check in, with unticketed flight segments, throws an error for ticket coupon association.
 
BNE-HKG today, connecting to HEL, all on a single AY ticket with AY flight numbers. 17hr layover. Couldn't through check bag
or issue onward BPs because 'HKG is all I have in my system'.

Didn't quibble with this random act of denial because only a minor inconvenience. But not impressive.

Cheers skip

If the accepting airline eg QF cannot see the onward AY flight the next day on the same ticket then the connection exceeds the system parameters for a through check.

It has no bearing on the standard IATA definition of a transit (international ticket) if under 24 hours.

Even if the CSA was to try and add the AY flight to the checkin system Altea would come up with the error "flight already exists" because it's already in the Amadeus pnr so there is nothing they could have done.

Travelling via SIN seems to give you a bit more leeway eg if flying BNE/SIN & arriving 1800 and connecting next day to CMB at 1000 Altea has through checked bags to CMB and issued both boarding passes.
 
Hi, clarification needed

Flight was ticketed on AY through their website. My flights were QF97 (sold as AY5020) connecting to AY102, hence my checking in at the QF counter.

I didn't care about the boarding passes, but counter lady wouldn't check my bags through even though all they were all on a single AY ticket, which she looked at before saying 'no can do'. I wondered if it was really a case of 'no can be bothered'.

Compare and contrast: Mrs Pineapple about a week earlier did the same routing on CX150 1035 ex BNE, connecting to AY102 1105 ex HKG next day, and then AY from HEL to MAN 0815 the day after that. CX had no trouble through tagging as you'd expect.

Cheers skip
 
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I have no idea about your specific situation but CX were one of the few partners to reverse the interline decision for their customers and offer more than the required. They put their customers first. Its a decision that everyone wishes QF would make.
CX will interline bags on separate PNR's still.
 
I didn't care about the boarding passes, but counter lady wouldn't check my bags through even though all they were all on a single AY ticket, which she looked at before saying 'no can do'. I wondered if it was really a case of 'no can be bothered'.

It's a system issue and not something frontline staff can override. If it's possible to through check to AY your onward flight HKG/HEL would be visible in Altea.

It's no extra effort to through check to AY vs only to HKG as staff still have to tag a suitcase either way so I don't believe it's a case of staff not being bothered.

If CX can see your AY oncarriage (eg for Mrs Skip) flight & QF cannot there must be certain system parameters set by QF (that CX don't have) within Amadeus and Altea that inhibit through check for long connections such as yours.
 
A datapoint for those interested on QF award flight to paid flight and disruptions...

QF J (me WP + SG) travelling SYD-LAX QF11 (award booking). Connecting to AA F/J LAX-DFW-MIA-SJU ($350 YUPP).

In SYD, bags checked through to SJU and all boarding passes issued. Great!

However, QF 11 was already posted as delayed/departing 1 Hr late from SYD due to late arrival of A/C - not great. In hindsight, I should have tried AA ticket counter in SYD prior to checkin to see if they could rebook to later flights.

Anyway, QF11 never made up any time and QF did f’all to rebook us. A friend on the flight with paid tix was moved to a later LAX-MIA flight. All we got was a ‘Priority Pass’ to an otherwise quick immigration but very slow baggage collection....

Whilst we might have sprinted and made the connection, very unlikely that our luggage would so we went direct to the AA transfer desk. First Lady there was extremely unhelpful until proded by colleague to do something. Ended up be offloaded and rebooked LAX-MIA-SJU (same SJU flight) but lost our F seats! I managed to get a standby back to J on MIA-SJU.

Some refunds came through automatically but bugger all.

Yes, a longer connection time in LAX would have been the go....
 
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The award to paid flight separate tickets? I wouldn’t expect QF to rebook on that. Thankfully AA will protect separate tickets for one world connections, but not automatically. The AA desk in SYD might have been able to rebook you though.

The main issue with YUPPs is the potential for a downgrade in the event of delays. But you do have the choice to wait until the next flight with Y/F available. The Y class bit of the YUPP should also give you fairly high standby priority? A full Y on standby used to trump even top tier elites on standby lists. Not sure if they’ve changed that now.
 
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