EnvoyBoy

Couldn’t find an appropriate thread but my experience was such that I won’t do this again and therefore thought others might want to know so they can decide for themselves if they want the hassle.

My trip: YYZ-SFO-HKG, HKG-ORD-YYZ. To/from HKG was booked in J and upgraded to GF with GPU. To/from YYZ were codeshare flights (with UA flight numbers) on AC and booked in J.

All went well at the start. Couldn’t get electronic boarding passes but was able to check-in online and get boarding passes mailed to me to print out. Straight to the GE lane at YYZ!

Got to SFO and was surprised to find that UA did not share a terminal with its *A partner AC. Unfortunately, AC boarding pass from SFO to HKG didn’t have a PreCheck designation but was able to re-print with UA while switching terminals and that did the trick.

+++++++++++

On the way back, was able to check-in online but no electronic boarding passes and only HKG-ORD boarding pass emailed me. Note included to get onward AC boarding pass at the airport. Check-in with GF at HKG and they can’t get the AC boarding pass to print. Agents can’t figure out why since passport info, etc all in the res from the outbound and I'd already flown both AC and UA.

Am told they’ll contact ORD and the agent who typically meets the flights with the GFL invites will have my boarding pass.

Get to ORD (late, but that’s a given these days!) and agent is there with GFL invite but has no boarding pass. Nothing to be done but to go to T2 and check-in with AC (again, this was a codeshare with a UA flight number). This is slightly inconvenient as I’d planned to go straight to T1 and grab a shower at the GFL and then take the bus over to T2.

Go to T2 and very nice AC agent checks me in but no PreCheck. I bemoan this and she says I have to have Nexus or Global Entry. I note I have both and that I had PreCheck when UA issued my BP on the outbound. She says the TT number didn’t migrate over to AC. She enters it manually and now I have it. Walk over to T1 and then quickly shower at the GFL.

Final evidence that there’s no *A coordination at ORD or SFO is that when I go to board the bus back over to T2, the staff member initially refuses to let me on the UA bus because I have an Air Canada boarding pass. (When did they start checking boarding passes to use the bus??) My tone indicated she better let me on the bus and she did!

So, there was nothing seamless about my Star Alliance experience between the two airlines at either SFO or ORD. I might as well have been flying UA and Qantas, for all the good the *A relationship did me Glad I only had cabin luggage as I seriously doubt I would have ever seen my checked bag. I wanted GF instead of AC’s business and I wanted the wifi of the 747 but next time I think I’ll just suck it up and fly direct on AC instead.

steveman518

The codeshare doesn't mean anything. The fact that the AC flight had a UA number on it doesn't mean anything in streamlining the process. While it would be convenient for you to remain airside there aren't that many locations where all *A members are located in the same terminal (there are around 20 airports in the world where *A carriers are almost all in one terminal according to wiki).

kenn0223

UA doesn't do mobile boarding passes for non-UA flights (nor does any other airline I've experienced). I am sure one day it will get there but the technology is still new.

At SFO AC and UA are in the same terminal, the international terminal, however they are in different concourses requiring you to travel though security again. I doubt it's very common for passengers arriving from outside the US (i.e. Canada) to be connecting to another international flight. I would guess most of AC's SFO traffic is O&D and not connecting so it makes sense to be where they are.

For the situation at ORD. Why not just ask the UA representative for a gate pass to get though security via the GS lane at ORD (almost as fast as pre-check) and then sort out things with AC at the gate (after your shower) or ask UA to do it for you?

Critic

Also, AC used to be located in T3E at SFO, but were displaced by the demo and reconstruction of that concourse over the last 5 or so years. The E concourse recently opened up, and the conventional wisdom was that AC would be fully reintegrated into the T3/International G complex once the work was complete, although that doesn't seem to have occurred.

FYI, according to flySFO.com, AC operates out of both sides of the International Terminal (concourses A & G), so if you're coming in on UA and connecting to AC (or vice versa), unfortunately it's 6-to-5 and pick'em if you'll have to go through security again to access your AC flight*.

*presuming you arrive from a pre clearance station. If you need to clear CBP, you're boned regardless.

radiowell

After my nightmarish experience on a mixed UA/US/OZ ticket (on OZ stock, at least initially) a few years back, which involved confused agents, the infamous "! A modification has been made..." message that never disappeared from the UA website, a plating violation by US that further confused the OZ and UA agents (which explains the change of stock/ticket number), and general chaos when dealing with my reservation... I try to avoid mixed codeshare stuff, alliance be dammed. (Still, I think the alliance is good, but try to stick with one airline if possible).

Shareholder

This is not just STAR, I have the same problem with ONEWORLD getting boarding passes. AA can give me a JL boarding pass but JL can't give me an AA boarding pass. "Seemless" is hardly an adjective that yet applies to these alliances, even after all these years. Try pre-selecting seats on most carriers when you've booked with another partner. And why don't our tickets include the record locators for all our alliance partner flights!

As for the TT number, it never migrates to another airline's res system/PNR. You must put it into the appropriate field when completing passport and other such details. Each airline system keeps this separately. But consider yourself lucky it was AC and not another non-American airline you were flying, IIRC AC is the only foreign airline that can issue PreCheck on its own flights from US airports.

emcampbe

I don't believe this is correct, at least it isn't 100% of the time. Have no idea about UA/AC, but when US was still in *, my TT information always made it to US if it was a codeshare booked through UA. I know this because, first, I always got precheck when flying US, and second, when checking in with US, there was no option to put in my TT #, which there is supposed to be when it is not already included.

That said, you can not get an electronic boarding pass if you have a transborder flight out of Canada - with any airline. I'm almost 100% sure this is because of pre-clearance there. Whether it is because of some customs law that they won't, that they don't want to invest in the equipment to do it, its too much of a PITA (all BPs are stamped as having been pre-cleared, and AFAIK, the airline needs to keep a part of the BP with that stamp which gets collected at boarding) or for some other reason, I don't know. Since UA flights out of YYZ are all transborder, they just aren't offered, period.

Also, you can not get electronic BPs on mixed carrier itineraries. I've never seen it with other carriers, but definitely not with UA. What will happen, however, if the other carrier is first, is that the e boarding passes will show up on the UA app automatically when you open it at a transfer point when the rest of the itinerary is eligible. For example, if I'm flying YYZ-ORD-CVG, I can never got electronic boarding passes, however, when landing in ORD, the ORD-CVG pass always just shows up.

I've also had similar sort of trouble with UA itself not being able to issue further UA BPs. I was flying CVG-ORD-NRT-BKK, with everything on UA except for ORD-NRT, which was NH. At check-in at CVG, and both at CS and the club in ORD, could not issue BPs for the NRT-BKK segment, which was the UA-operated flight (at the time). Had to get it at the transfer desk in NRT.

Kacee

It would be nice if alliances were seamless, but they're not. The visit to the transfer desk remains an essential part of international travel. Maybe my expectations are too low, but this really doesn't bother me. Then again, I'm still impressed when my luggage winds up at the right destination on a mixed carrier itinerary.

flyer0123

On my SFO-LAX-TPE-BKK-MAA trip on a mixed Star Alliance itinerary of UA/BR/TG, UA printed all my BP's at SFO, however BR at LAX told me that I cannot use UA BP's, they need to check me in again and issue their own BP's. They could not issue me TG BP's and I had to re-checkin at BKK to get my TG BP again (even though I still had my UA issued BP for that segment was not sure whether TG will accept it after finding out about the BR rule)

EnvoyBoy

Fair enough. I'd like if they were in the same terminal. However, I expect I should be able to get boarding passes and that data should migrate. Having to check in for each segment with each airline in their own terminal seems counter to the benefits they market for the alliance.

transportprof

Not to take away from the OP's experience, but s/he got off pretty easy compared to some of the AC/UA coordination gaps I've experienced. These include opaque fare class mapping from a 'W' in UA to 'T' on AC that yields 'Tango' fare status (minimum 125 miles) plus last row seating in Y. Seating could only be changed at the gate (at agent's discretion); mileage cut was irrevocable.

This has gotten worse in the last year, which I ascribe to AC's push to squeeze even more out of its pax at every turn: Rouge; no more preferred Y seating for *G; slash and burn to upgrades in Aeroplan elite categories, etc.

why fly

Air Canada computers are out of the stone ages. Unless you buy a ticket from Air Canada you cant even book your seat online. Also AC has new classes of tickets that give 25% miles.
And whatever you do NEVER ever get on a ROUGE flight. Its horrific.
Also now that AC does not let UA gold members book a seat on AC planes its time UA blocked all AC passengers from seat selection on UA planes.

emcampbe

To be fair, this is typical on many international carriers - they'll only accept BPs that they print themselves. Not sure why.

AFAIK, you can now select/change seats from external bookings - at least some of them. I just had one booked through RBC points, I think it books through Carlson Wagonlit, and I could change seats - just has to go through a separate site then the typical manage my booking - there's even instructions/a link on the main manage my bookings page, but it does require entering in the PNR/last name twice.

And to be fair, AC has no such restriction about not letting golds select seats as you suggest - they just don't give out premium seats for free, and they don't give them out to their own AC elites either on most fares. Those on UA tickets can only not book a seat on AC if they have to pay for it - i.e. if on 016 stock, can't select a seat in advance on a Tango fare or pay for a premium seat. No different than what's going on with LH on low fares - there's no way to map the purchase of a seat to the ticket when its OAL. There are plenty of seats that one is able to select on AC flights, so saying you can't book them is completely inaccurate.

Kacee

That sounds about right.

It's generally a good idea to check-in with your connecting carrier in any event so they can ensure your bags transfer. When I've transferred to OZ, TG, etc. off another carrier's flight, they always want to see my baggage claim check. And when I recently connected to OZ F, they affirmatively tracked down my bags and stuck F tags on them (did this at both LAX and ICN).

worldwidetraveler

I could see my reservation (made by UA)on the Air Canada site using the AC confirmation code, but it would not allow me to select Business seats.
Called their customer service & was able to get the desired seats.