airberlin topbonus - Check-in when traveling on OW award ticket

Hi, my parents are flying from STR-MXP-HKG on an AA award ticket. STR-MXP on AB in economy connecting MXP-HKG on CX in business.

It appears that some AB fares do not include desk checkin. Can they checkin at the desk (without fee) on an AA award ticket booked in X?

Will AB be able to check their bags through to HKG?

Will AB give all boarding passes, or just STR-MXP?

We have lots of experience flying on award tickets with BA/QF/CX, but first time with AB and the flight is at 06:35, so we'd like to know what to expect.

Thanks!

Can they checkin at the desk (without fee) on an AA award ticket booked in X?Yes!but first time with AB and the flight is at 06:35Good luck!
The AB have the worst Service ever.

It appears that some AB fares do not include desk checkin. Can they checkin at the desk (without fee) on an AA award ticket booked in X?

You can always check in at the desk, except when booking AB's "JustFly" fare. My experience with AB is mostly positive and certainly not worse than the one's I had with the biggest German airline.

Hi, thanks for your replies. For the benefit of anyone who searches this information later on, I thought I would document the answers.

It appears that some AB fares do not include desk checkin. Can they checkin at the desk (without fee) on an AA award ticket booked in X?

The AA award ticket (booked in X) is considered to be "FlyClassic" in the current AB fare structure. This means you can check in at the desk without fee.

Will AB be able to check their bags through to HKG?

It took some persuading (and two phone calls by the agent), but the answer is yes. My parents' bags were checked through to the final destination.

Will AB give all boarding passes, or just STR-MXP?

Answer is 'yes', the MXP-HKG boarding pass was given without us needing to ask for it.

One piece of advice is to print your AB boarding pass before going to the airport, even if the AB web site does not show your connecting flights. This lets you use the "bag drop" line, which had almost zero wait, whereas the regular checkin desk had probably a 30 minute wait. The agent at the bag drop counter can issue the CX boarding passes and do all of the above.

Overall I would say it was not a smooth process, but the agent was generally helpful and I suspect she probably just hadn't dealt with precisely this situation before and needed to figure it out.