nwflyboy

Question about getting checked bag fees waived when traveling with others who ordinarily won't qualify for free checked bags...

We are a group of four, two couples, traveling together on AS. Two of us have the B of A Alaska VISA so we each qualify for free checked bag. Our in-laws, visiting from far away, do not have the AS Visa. None of us have status.

The booking is slightly complicated...
We will book 2 seats as one booking, and the other 2 seats as a separate booking.
Two seats will be on paid tickets (actually one full fare + companion certificate), and the two other passengers will be booked as awards (although I'll be using American Airlines points to book the awards). So there will be two separate bookings.

(The reason we're booking two paid seats and two award seats is because there are only 2 award seats at the low level on these flights. The reason I'm using AA points to book the seats on AS metal is because I have a shipload of AA points, and AS points are a lot more valuable to me, though I'd rather sit on an AS plane than an AA one).

Of course, the two of us who have the AS Visa (me and my spouse) will get a free checked bag each. But I'm wondering if there's any way to link our reservations (or otherwise combine the bookings) so all four of our group would qualify for a free checked bag each.

We have not booked the flights yet (booking window opens up about a week away). Is there any way to slice this so all 4 get a free checked bag, and the two of us flying on the paid tickets earn miles?

I'm not aware of any trick to accomplish this, unless I can simply call AS and have the two bookings "linked" or merged. I assume they'll be OK with "linking" but that won't accomplish what I want. Am I missing any options here?

Thanks for the input.