Travlur

Wondering how to best handle this situation. I've been flying for decades, but luckily this has never happened to me before. I have a 4 people booked for an AA flight (paid tickets, not that I would think that would matter) with non-refundable tickets. One person can't go on the trip now. There is a very small chance that she might be able to go at the last minute, but not likely. Am I going to have a problem if one person on the pnr doesn't check in?
Is it best to just show up with the 3 of us, and not even mention the other person?
Since it is non-refundable anyway, and there is still a small chance she could be able to go, I'd rather not try to change the reservation unless I have to.
Just want to make sure there is not a rule I am not aware of that could delay us at the airport.

Thanks very much

vasantn

There is no requirement for all pax on a single PNR to check in at the same time; so no, there shouldn't be a problem.

mvoight

I think it needs to be canceled in advance of the flight to get flight credit, but I could be wrong

Carolina2Cali

I came to say similar. At least have the person cancel an hour or two before the flight. About 99 percent of AA flights (in my estimation with absolutely zero evidence!) are at least able to be converted into credit. So, the money on said person's case shouldn't be ENTIRELY a lost cause.

GrumpyYoungMan

Just have her split off into a separate PNR. A phone agent can do that easily.

FlyingEgghead

What is the reason for doing this?

GrumpyYoungMan

If she isn't sure she will fly, it will allow her to manipulate her reservation and leave the others untouched.

Upthread it sounds like it wouldn't be an issue either way, but it would make me feel better making cancellations if the folks who are definitely going aren't on the same rez that gets cancelled last-minute.

Guess it depends on how confident you are with any random agent's competence...

Geordie405

This is exactly what I'd do. The 4th person can then either show up at the last minute and fly, or can cancel at the last minute for a flight credit. It would also allow the three definite travelers to check in online without accidentally checking in passenger #4.

azepine00

or worse yet, the forth pax (or agent due to some misunderstanding) cancelling all reservations.. i'd definitely split pnr in advance

S80

Checking in doesn't change the ability to cancel for a 'refund' (credit), and it can still be done online.

FlyDeltaMD88

PNR can be split, can be done at check-in at airport but better for all parties involved if done in advance with a phone agent.

1P

In the past, I've been told "I can't check any of you in until you're all here". This was for an international itinerary where she needed to see the passports, which may be a different case.

Ilove2fly

That had happened to me on international flight as well but that was a LONG time ago when they were manually checking the passports.

gateH15

Call AA and ask to split PNR. Agent won’t even ask for a reason. If the 4th person can’t fly ticket can be cancelled and converted into flight credit very last minute (I’d say prob 30 min before departure) and it can be done online. I would wait until very last minute to see if flight gets delayed. If significant delay happens I believe you can request a full refund

Travlur

Thanks for the solid advice all, really appreciate it.