This happened some months ago, and I am reporting it now only because I am making the trip again and want to know what I might do differently.

I was flying AA to LHR and then continuing on BA (separate records). I OLCI'd and printed my boarding pass. At check-in, AA said they said that for some reason they couldn't print the BA bp---I said maybe because I had printed it---but they had no problem tagging my luggage all the way to the final destination.

After security at T4, I decided that I would stop at the BA counter and show them my luggage receipts. Sure enough, they were not associated with my BA record. He could see that I was traveling with two pieces (because I said so at OLCI), but not what they were. Apparently, whatever AA did at check-in did not cause BA to be informed that I was transferring rather than originating in LHR.

He corrected the problem and my luggage arrived safely at the final destination. My question is, would I avoid this potential problem on my upcoming trip by not OLCI'ing, thus letting the AA staff check me in on BA and in the process communicate more clearly with BA? If I OLCI but don't print my bp, will that help? Or is there no problem here...my luggage will go from AA to BA at LHR and they will automatically match the baggage with the passenger so that it is allowed onto the plane? (I am not sure I trust BA to do anything like this right when luggage is involved!)

Note that I am assuming that BA tries to ensure, for security purposes, that luggage is normally not allowed to fly unless it is associated with a passenger who has boarded the same plane.


Many thanks,