Seattlenerd

Here's a question that probably requires an arcane knowledge of internal AS systems to answer.

I did Web check in at the 24-hour mark for a transcon for my coach seat on my laptop, but wasn't able to print at the time. No upgrade was available.

Twelve hours later, I went back to the Web site to print the boarding pass, and noticed the upgrade link WAS available. So I clicked it and -- lo and behold -- I was upgraded. ^ I printed out the boarding pass with the FC seat.

To play it safe, I called reservations to see what seat they showed I had. They showed I had been upgraded, but no seat, and the seat I had selected online was filled. Then, when the CSR touched the reservation, the seat I selected online was suddenly available (though not assigned to me) and she got it for me.

I went back online and noticed that I was no longer marked as "checked in." So I checked in again and printed a new boarding pass with the same seat as my first boarding pass.

So: Was the boarding pass I printed initially (showing a FC seat) valid? And did I force a second check-in after calling the CSR and having her touch the reservation?

And: Anything I should do differently next time, if an upgrade becomes available online after I've already checked in online?

PacNWFlyer

I can chime in on that for you. Unfortunately, the reservation and check-in systems don't talk well together (at least the seat-assignment part), so the res agent was unable to give you accurate information. Your boarding pass from web check-in was correct, but the agent wouldn't have been able to see that because it was within 48 hours of departure (he/she was looking at your original seat assignment which was no longer yours in the check-in system).

As a sidenote, any airport agent would have been able to see your valid first-class seat assignment immediately (it wouldn't even have occurred to them to check the res system in the same way a res agent does).

Ultimately, if there's a conflict of any kind, the airport check-in system wins every time over the res system, so that's what the agent should be working from to give you the most accurate info. We don't provide res agents access to that system, so they're just working with what they've got (and it's only a potential issue within a couple of days of any given departure).

Hope that helps.
ASTechGuy

Seattlenerd

Helps quite a bit, thanks.

My takeaway is: If I get an upgrade (online, either at or after my initial Web check-in), it's probably counter-productive for me to call a res agent to verify the seat assignment, since they won't have that information. Better just to assume the boarding pass I have from the online check-in system is correct, since the check-in system trumps the res system.

In other words, the res system passes the info to the check-in system, and then only it has the most current info. If I go back online to reprint my boarding pass and it offers me an upgrade and seat, I'm really only working with the check-in system and should believe it.

I think that also explains why the online system showed I wasn't checked in after the res agent touched the reservation and re-assigned me the same FC seat. Could that action have undone the online check in?

AS FF Guru

Not to get too much into semantics, but there are two Sabre entities you're dealing with in a situation like this: your PNR (passenger name record, aka "reservation"), which resides in the reservations system, and your passenger item, which is a subset of your reservation details and resides in the check-in system. The check-in system handles tracking your status (checked-in, boarded, etc.) and standby lists, among other functions.

The situation you described is not limited just to upgrades, but any seating changes. The agents in Reservations will still see your pre-reserved seats, but not any changes made in seating by the check-in system, to include web check-in, kiosks, and airport agents. When the reservations system passes the "baton" to the check-in system, the check-in system then becomes the quasi-system of record for such data, although there is still some limited communication between the two entities for certain data, such as some special service requests, electronic ticket coupon status, bag tag details, etc.

When the Reservations agent modified your record, it temporarily pulls control of that record back to the reservations system and generally will automatically undo any check-in data.

PacNWFlyer

Well put - your takeaway is correct. As a rule (barring the need for a complicated routing change or ticket reissue), you really don't want a res agent touching your reservation after you've checked in against it. You're correct about how your online check-in was 'undone', so avoiding a call to res is usually in your best interest (albeit counter-intuitive).

Wouldn't life be better if all of our computer systems talked perfectly to one another? I'd be out of a job, but anyway...

bigbirdwithsilverwings

what happened to the original poster has also happened to me. Oddly, it turns out that you can "check-in" up to 6x before the system will abort your attempt (and who knows what else will get thrown out w/your 6th attempt).
This bit of info has helped me realize a first class upgrade several times.

You can check in at the 24 hour mark, and-if you have no mvp or similar status-seek a bulkhead or exit row seat which becomes available at the 24 hour check-in time. Thereafter, you can check to see if a first class seat becomes available and still upgrade it.

EIPremier

This is pretty much as I expected. I encountered the same situation as the OP a couple of times last spring/summer (U seat became available 12-18 hours in advance, I did online check-in, system allowed me to upgrade, but then the new seat assignment in F did not show up in the reservation). I was able to print out the boarding pass showing my F seat assignment, and there was no issue with my seat being reassigned in either case.

Seattlenerd

Interesting stat on the 6x. What prompted me to print my boarding pass when I did was that I recently signed up for a subscription to ExpertFlyer.com, and had experimentally set a flight alert to let me know if/when U space became available on that flight.

I got an e-mail from ExpertFlyer that U was available about 12 hours before flight time and figured that was as good a reminder as any to print my boarding pass. I did not dream I'd be able to upgrade, since I'd already checked in -- to my surprise, it turned out I could still upgrade.

smantl01

Not to take the thread on a side tangent, but has anyone else had similar success with ExpertFlyer.com? KVS sure doesn't have this capability!

PowerLu

it's plug time lol

LmOffice FlightTracker (see my tag line) can do the same kind of notification, but, of course, it's looking at the web site which is actually the res system, so it's about 1 hour behind (when F or U comes available on checkin system takes about 1hr to get to the res system) but nevertheless, has worked for me numerous times when U comes at the 24hr interval