A. When it’s from DL for a VN connection at NRT.

DL booking SFO-SEA-NRT-SGN, with NRT-SGN via partner Vietnam Airlines. Checked in and presented passport and visa at SFO, received “docs ok” boarding passes for all 3 legs. Checked into SkyClub at NRT and was reminded we will need to present passports at the gate and told they will announce when the flight is boarding.

When boarding begins, we cannot board. We’re told we need a “ticket.” We present the boarding pass and are told that is not acceptable. We need a “ticket” from the connections counter which is apparently down the concourse somewhere and we’re told we’d gave to go back and do that and then return. We saw others from the main cabin lane being turned back in that direction as well and they looked pretty upset, but we were in the D1 lane and a different VN GA saw our confusion/irritation and kindly took care of us there at the gate.

It all worked out fine, we were grateful to be taken care of on the spot, and the GA was very nice as she churned through a process that looked identical to what the DL agent at the check in counter at SFO had done — manually putting in the passport and visa information. I don’t mind going through that twice, I understand these are different countries, different airlines, different systems. What I don’t understand is why DL gave us boarding passes that their partner airline wouldn’t even look at. Or why no one mentioned the need for a trip to a connections counter before boarding at NRT. What’s the point of a boarding pass if you can’t use it to board?