Hi all

Hoping to prevent a problem on an upcoming trip that resulted in a lost bag a year ago. Would welcome the group's wisdom.

I am flying on an AA booking that starts with an AA domestic segment and connects at Boston to a segment to LHR booked with an AA flight number but on BA metal. This means I have an AA record locator and a BA record locator.

A year ago on a similar flight, when checking in, the bag was tagged with an AA code because it was dropped at an AA desk. It was supposed to be checked through to LHR. When entering a BA lounge in the States on the layover, the BA agent insisted on printing me a new boarding pass using the BA locator. That meant that when I boarded, the BA locator showed as being used, but the AA one did not - so the bag, with the AA code, was not loaded. Or, somewhere in there, the AA code simply showed as being over-ridden and as a result the bag ended up in purgatory.

It was a real pain to get the bag back as both companies said it was not their problem.

Is there a way to avoid this on my upcoming trip? I would really prefer not to have the bag checked only to Boston, retrieve it and then check it in again - but if that helps ensure there's no pain, so be it.