US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Can US do interline check-in with NW?

I'm currently booked on a US DM J award to SIN using both US and NW. Does anyone know if US can issue the boarding passes for the entire ATL-CLT-SFO-NRT-SIN journey, or will I have to obtain them from NW in SFO in the five minutes that I legally have to do so?

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I don't know what NW's policy is, but perhaps you could check in on the web (for the NW segs) before leaving PHL, PIT, or CLT?

Or maybe not, since it will be an international trip....

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Saving the world, one clue at a time.

It's a paper ticket, so Web check-in is not an option.

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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.

US can indeed issue NW boarding paases, as long as the NW segments are in US PNR. (Providing the EDIFACT link to NW is working.) This even applies if you have an NW E-tkt. Note that US can not sell an NW E-tkt at this time, only check you in if you already have one. This also the case with the case with AA.

Here the interline check-in partners (as well as I can remember. I'll check at work tomorrow to see if I left something out.)

AA - paper and e-tkt. But since 9/11 the BP that you get from US will not have seat nbr printed. AA wants you to check in with them. But the AA BP will allow you past security so you don't have to go the AA counter.

BA- paper tkt only.

CO -paper tkt only. I believe.

NW - paper and e-tkt

UA - paper and etkt. Whether or not it is a codehare flight.

One thing to keep in mind is that some agents don't know about it. And quite a few do not know how to change an interline seat assignment. (I actually have to look that up
most of the time).

Hope this helps.


[This message has been edited by fly2sfo (edited 01-20-2003).]

I never had luck getting US to issue an AA boarding pass when I had combined award tickets to Hawaii between the two airlines. I doubt you'd get a US agent in ATL (not the best in the system) to issue NW boarding passes.

Plan on doing it in SFO.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kv99:
I never had luck getting US to issue an AA boarding pass when I had combined award tickets to Hawaii between the two airlines. I doubt you'd get a US agent in ATL (not the best in the system) to issue NW boarding passes.

Plan on doing it in SFO.</font>

Doing it in SFO would pose a problem, since I only have a 65 minute connection, and NW stops Intl. check-in at 60 minutes before departure.


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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by avek00:
Doing it in SFO would pose a problem, since I only have a 65 minute connection, and NW stops Intl. check-in at 60 minutes before departure.


</font>
OK - so if someone in ATL can't do it, give it a try in CLT-- maybe someone there can get it issued.

If that doesn't work, get US ground staff in SFO to call over to NW and make sure you get taken care of. the one good thing here is that US ground staff in SFO is VERY, VERY helpful.

That's a very tight connection given the switch in terminals, etc. Anyway you could make it slightly longer (connect in PIT or PHL?) It might add a little more time to your trip, but I don't even do UA-UA Dom-Int'l connections that close.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kv99:
Originally posted by avek00:
Doing it in SFO would pose a problem, since I only have a 65 minute connection, and NW stops Intl. check-in at 60 minutes before departure.


</font>
OK - so if someone in ATL can't do it, give it a try in CLT-- maybe someone there can get it issued.

If that doesn't work, get US ground staff in SFO to call over to NW and make sure you get taken care of. the one good thing here is that US ground staff in SFO is VERY, VERY helpful.

That's a very tight connection given the switch in terminals, etc. Anyway you could make it slightly longer (connect in PIT or PHL?) It might add a little more time to your trip, but I don't even do UA-UA Dom-Int'l connections that close.



The US CLT-SFO flight is the ONLY one that arrives in early enough to catch the NW SFO-NRT flight.

I'm literally begging and pleading with US/NW to get a seat released on SEA-NRT, which would allow a connection of about 1:40 or so. Given that NW007 has about 54 open seats in J (max. capacity 67), I am optimistic, but for now I have to plan on taking this awful connection.

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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.

Another thought - after you have checked in with US in ATL, if they can't do the NW check-in, is it possible to go to the NW counter in ATL to get checked-in for your SFO departure?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rtpflyer:
Another thought - after you have checked in with US in ATL, if they can't do the NW check-in, is it possible to go to the NW counter in ATL to get checked-in for your SFO departure?</font>

I thought about that one, but NW can't print the BPs from ATL. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif


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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.

I am sure that one of the agents in ATL will be familiar with interline thru check-in. The basic check in entry is excactly the same as it is for someone who is not connecting offline. Just make sure that the NW segments are in the PNR before he/she checks you in. If you have any problems, ask if a supv or the local training instructor is on duty.

If the agent has any problems give him/her the following FOCUS references:
F*PPI/EDIFACT
F*PDD/EDIFACT
F*DPT/EDIFACT

Sometimes, the interline BP will actually print out just fine, but the agent will not
know to give it you. That happened in my station today to an F-class passenger...albeit a lowly US4 :-)...connecting to BA. The agt threw it away not realizing that it was really OK to give to the man. At the gate, I was able to re-issue the BP and save him a wait in line at the connecting city.

Good luck with your trip on NW. Please let us know how it worked out. And thanks for flying with US.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kv99:


[/b]</font>

If that doesn't work, get US ground staff in SFO to call over to NW and make sure you get taken care of. the one good thing here is that US ground staff in SFO is VERY, VERY helpful.

[/B][/QUOTE]

Thank you the kind words about the SFO staff.

One reason you've had bad luck getting US to give you an AA BP is that shorty after 9/11,AA restricted US's thru check-in ability. The interline BP for the AA flight will print "NS" where the seat assignment should be. As a result, many agents will assume the EDIFACT check-in has failed (which does in fact happen) and throw away the AA BP. The system does actually work, but the idea is that AA wants to you see one of their people before you board their plane. (I'm not sure why this is still the case now that the "two questions" have been dropped.)

I've checked with gurus and have been told that AA still wants US to give out "NS" BP. This indicates that you are actually checked in on the AA flight, even if they have to reprint it with the seat number on it.

The "NS" BP will allow you through the checkpoint without going to the AA counter.

So you might to ask the agent if the AA BP printed,even though it doesn't show a seat number.

Thank you so much for the valuable info. I had to go to the US ATL ticket counter yesterday to reissue the ticket, and the agent on duty seemed to be familiar with using the EDIFACT link, so I'm optimistic (though I am taking the FOCUS codes just in case http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif).

My concern now is that while the NW SEA flight has not yet opened up, the US flight that offers the good connection to that flight is now sold out for the F award space. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Ah well, I'm hopeful everything will work out in time....

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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.