blackball

I'm flying tomorrow on a Lufthansa ticket, ATH-FRA (operated by Aegean) and FRA-SFO (operated by United).

So both Lufthansa and United websites allowed me to reserve seats for the FRA-SFO leg, that's fine. However, they DO NOT allow me to check in for the flight(s) tomorrow- United's website instructed me to check-in via Lufthansa's site, and Lufthansa's redirected me to Aegean's (lol). When I try to check in through Aegean's site, my pre-selected seats for the ATH-FRA leg are ok (did this through Aegean, as usual). The problem is with the FRA-SFO leg: The seats I reserved through Lufthansa's site are unavailable, and I can only select random free seats (basically all that's left- middle seats, and funnily enough, a bulkhead United economy plus seat).

I guess one option is to NOT select seats in Aegean's online check-in, and just keep pressing next until the process is done. I called Aegean's helpdesk, and the lady said if I did this my reserved seats (via Lufthansa) would be ok- they would not be changed. Has anyone ever had a similar experience?

The other option is to simply check in at the airport- Though I am not sure if that's any different to option 1.

Any insight/advice would be greatly appreciated...

NWIFlyer

Do you have the airline specific PNRs for both A3 & UA?

This problem usually occurs because the specific PNRs usually show different information and don't necessarily link up well with each other, particularly if they're on different reservation platforms (e.g. Sabre/Amadeus). That would explain your difficulty in checking in for both legs, plus the fact that your original seats are not available to you (because they're still assigned to you under the other PNR).

I would check in for the ATH-FRA flight on the A3 website using the A3 PNR, and the FRA-SFO flight on the UA website using the UA PNR. You may be better doing the FRA-SFO leg first so those seat reservations definitely stick.

blackball

Interesting... I have a couple of PNRs, not sure which is which- they both work on all 3 airline websites. I will figure it out though. Edit (update): I went through 'My Bookings' and indeed there is a 3rd PNR that must be A3 specific! I also saw that I have a LH-specific PNR, while the other code is simply the reservation code (Amadeus?). No UA PNR, as far as I can tell. In fact, when trying to check in through UA's site, it tells me the flight is LH-operated, which is why it then tells me to go through LH check in (it's definitely a UA plane, btw).

Is it possible to check in *only* for the A3 flight? The second leg shows up automatically at check in, though without seats selected.

I was thinking that the reason I cannot check in through Lufthansa (even though the 'my booking section' on their site literally states "check in is now open"), is because it's not yet 23 hours before the FRA-SFO leg... Perhaps it will let me check in for that then.

Thanks for your suggestions.

(edits: updated info)

NWIFlyer

If UA, LH & A3 are all on Amadeus (A3 certainly is), that would make sense - a certain amount of cross-referencing, but not enough to completely link everything up. If you think this is fun, try figuring out what's happening with BA/AA or BA/CX bookings with codeshares sometimes!

Ignore LH and their top-level PNR - check in with the Operating Carriers on their own websites, with their PNRs, just as you would at an airport desk.

Doing it that way means that UA check-in will not be available until T-24, so go back then and I'd expect it all to work. Your seats are reserved with both UA & A3, so there's no risk in leaving it even though A3 check-in will be open now.

blackball

Well, I am now within 23 hours of the second leg (FRA-SFO), so there should be NO problems for either UA or LH.

I have all 3 PNRs, but it does not matter. United's check in informs me this is an LH-operated flight, so continue through LH's site. Once I get there, I get an error for the check in (a number of possible reasons given- I can't even start the process).

I still have the seat selection issue via A3 - I cannot pick my pre-reserved seats on the second leg. I could try to complete check in without picking seats, but I'm worried A3's system will automatically assign random (middle) seats.

You'd think they would have taken steps to deal with this kind of problem after so many codeshares flown. Ridiculous.

I'm thinking the safest (?!) thing to do is wait until tomorrow morning, and do it at the desk at ATH airport.

Xandrios

As far as I know airlines generally do not allow check in on a nth leg if the previous leg(s) have not been checked in. Notable exception is, of course, Aegean, where I have been able to check in at MUC while the feeder LH flight had not yet been checked in.