AA/AS Name Fu
I'll start this here, since I found it out in the middle of a mileage run. If the moderators want to send it elsewhere, feel free to do so.
I am a large person, and I don't fit in a single coach seat. As a result, I usually pay for and fly "in" two coach seats. I've done this for years. With American Airlines, I have two AAdvantage accounts...one with my name, and one called Seat Herron.
With a double-miles offer available, I took a quick MR from Oakland to Seattle and back today. I made the reservations through American, but it was code-share on Alaska Airlines equipment.
There were no issues on the way up, but on the way back I was stopped at the gate and informed that my boarding passes were "wrong" and I needed to go to the service counter. When I got there, I was told that Alaska Airlines uses a different first name to flag the extra seat (I think it was XSEAT, but I'm not sure).
They started trying to fix it. The flight has now finished boarding, and they are literally holding the plane for me. (Thank you, AS. There were two later flights, but they were mostly full. I knew this so I kept my mouth shut and let them work.) After five minutes or so, they said, you're all set, go, and I hurried over to the flight.
I was told that it probably wouldn't have flagged except that I flew up and back today. They couldn't explain why that was a problem.
Aside from that, good run. No issues at either Oakland or Seattle. I'll have to fight AA to get FF credit for that return trip for the second seat, but I'll deal with that.
Bill