livebetter_travelmore

I am flying in business class with Qantas from Austin (AUS) to Sydney (SYD) via Dallas Ft Worth (DFW), with return in reverse. I booked the entire itinerary via Qantas, though my first, outbound flight from AUS -> DFW is via American Airlines with an AA flight number. I consulted Qantas' web-site regarding check-in, examining the "Eligibility table" for Mobile and Online Check-in eligibility table. The first column is labeled "First flight operated by:". For the row identified with first column label "Qantas international (QF1-199), it appears one may do an Online check-in. But, for the row identified with first column label "oneworld partners, codeshare partners or other designated international partners" there is an X for Online check-in. Do I infer correctly that this means since my first flight out of AUS is on AA -- again with an AA flight number -- that I will NOT be able to check-in online, despite having booked the entire itinerary on Qantas' web-site?

Mwenenzi

At some stage AA or QF will physically check you passport and confirm you have a visa for Australia or are eligible for Au entry and that you are the person as the photo in passport. That may stop you doing an on line AA check in.

livebetter_travelmore

But per the check-in eligibility table, if my first flight was a QF flight number -- e.g. let's say I was going to start my itinerary in DFW -- I would be able to do an online check-in. Regardless of starting in AUS or DFW, I know I'll have to produce my passport for inspection at the airport so that seems irrelevant with respect to checking in for the flight.

Airvan00

Thinking about your circumstances and relating them to my experience. I would probably do online check in on the AA site. In reality, online check in these circumstances is meaningless as you probably have baggage to check in, and at that point they will check your passport and maybe reprint your boarding passes on their own stock ( I usually end up with paper boarding passes for the onward QF flight printed on either BA, EK or LA stock.

livebetter_travelmore

The main thing that lingers in my mind is related to posts I've read on various sites recommending that one checks in as early as possible. Check-in time, at least anecdotally from my reads, could influence the outcome of decisions arising in unusual circumstances. For example, say your cabin has been oversold. I've read that the order of check-in might serve as part of the airline's consideration in deciding who gets downgraded or maybe even involuntarily denied boarding. Having flown internationally on other occasions with other carriers, I've had the ability to do an online check-in at the 24 hour mark, and then upon arriving at the airport presented my passport for inspection, reprinted boarding passes, checked bags, etc. In other words, those common in-person activities after arrival to the airport still occurred, but also with my passenger record having been recorded that I "officially" did a check-in 24 hours prior.

livebetter_travelmore

For those following this thread, it appears I was able to check-in online; well, I think I did. I first attempted to online check-in on AA roughly at the 24-hour mark prior to flight. That appeared to work ok at first, yielding the boarding pass for my first leg, the AA flight. However, there was no Qantas boarding pass and an odd message about inability to obtain boarding passes for all flights. I then went to Qantas' web-site, navigated to my flight, but the check-in button could not be selected, and instead hovering over the button resulted in a little pop-up stating "check in at the airport". Hmmm. I figured I'd try again when the 24-hour mark approached for that segment. Initially, I was met with the same results -- check in at the airport -- but an hour or two later I tried again on Qantas web-site, and lo and behold the check-in button was a different color and enabled me to start the check-in process. I got to the very end and even got a boarding pass. Woohoo!

Additional FYI: Though I booked my entire itinerary via Qantas' web-site, I found that on AA I had a unique locator record; I.e. Not the same as the Qantas one. I was thrilled to find, though, upon check-in at AUS airport for the AA segment that I could nonetheless check my bag all the way through to SYD. I had some concerns that I might find that I'd have to collect my bag at DFW and start over, but was spared.

serfty

Yep, Qantas use Amadeus and AA use SABRE for their respective GDS's(~Booking systems).

There will always be an Amadeus record for any booking involving a Qantas Ticket, Metal or flight number and a SABRE record for the same with AA. When a booking has both AA and QF then there will be both.