I'm back! Boy, that was a long leg... nearly 24+ hrs, including transits and running across gates
Anyway, here's a recap of my check-in experience on return:
- At AS's check-in counter @ MSO, I asked the counter agent (very nicely) to help check-in my 2 50-pound bags straight to HKG
- Also explained to him how I had bookings across 3 separate tickets... I handed over all 3 printed e-Ticket pages
- He said he needed to check with a supervisor, and walked off... returned 30s later with the boss, whom I patiently re-explained everything to
- Both of them then huddled over their monitors, and proceeded to work their magic... it did take them both 30m to get everything done
- Bottom line: AS was wonderful... they checked-in both my bags all the way to HKG (yaay), got my bag tags right, got me all my boarding passes (even for the CX leg @ SFO-HKG)
- Didn't have to pay $30+$40 out of pocket for bag check-ins.. it followed CX's J-class allowance (yaay x2)
- Both my bags turned up in HKG with no fuss (yaay x3)
- At SFO upon arrival, since I had 5+ hrs to kill and would be passing by CX's A-side check-in desks anyway, I walked over and got proper CX boarding passes + lounge invites printed... interestingly, CX asked for my AS bag tags, destroyed them, and reprinted new tags on CX stickers. Not sure what details were different on that, v.s. what AS had, but I found that interesting.
Both Raleigh and Lucas (AS agents at check-in) were super nice and probably the nicest check-in desk agents I've ever encountered in my travels. Very apologetic about the delay, and kept me updated on what they were keying in, every few minutes.
Brettsir's comments are spot-on.... always have printed eTickets, and hand them over. I highlighted the ticket numbers and flight routes as well, to make the agents' life easier (they appreciated this, and even thanked me for having everything ready for them #win-win).