Checking in AT the gate for international?
 

The story in a nutshell (you can read the Crowdstrike thread in the DL forum if you want more deets) is that I got caught up in the DL meltdown and have yet to leave for my CVG-ATL-AUA flight. Got cancelled and rebooked for Sunday morning but things are still not looking pretty so I went ahead and booked F on AA for CVG-PHL-AUA for today as well at 9:00PM Saturday night.

I haven't flown AA (US) since 2004 so I forgot the old login, set up a new account and proceeded to try to do the VeriFly. This popped up a warning that I had to do that by something like 8:25 Saturday night and that I had to check in at the airport.

So here's my question.

I have my original ticket on DL which is still valid and can get me through security. I'm not checking bags. If the AA checkin counter is nuts at 430AM, can I proceed through security under my DL boarding pass and then go to the gate and check in there?

(If you're wondering why I still have the DL ticket, I'm hanging on to it in case they start requesting VDB's, I'll put an offer in, get rebooked, take the credits then cancel the original flight.)

Too late, but go to the airprot the day prior and check in if check in the day-of doesn't appear to be a good option. By the time the gate agent arrives at the gate the check in deadline will have expired and the seat will be forfeited.

If you can't get your AA boarding pass, then yes you can head through on another airline's boarding pass. Just make sure to be checked in for your flight somehow before 45 minutes before scheduled departure.

You can get through security with the DL boarding pass. Make sure you have your green check mark from your ED card to show the AA gate agent when you check in.

60 minutes for an international flight.

Technically yes, however it's a domestic flight first - I believe there's one account here of someone showing up between 60 and 45 minutes for a domestic flight on an international itinerary and being denied, however they were checking bags (and they purposely did it), but I'd imagine in this situation the flat tire rule would apply and since they're already at the gate, etc...

Two reaction to this discussion:

1. I would have no reservation about doing what the OP had proposed. I'm pretty sure I've done something similar. MSY is home for me now, but I often originate my international travel from other airports because I often can save a lot of money (particularly when flying J or F). I'm sure there have been instances where I couldn't check in for my international flights so just flew from MSY to my gateway and checked in there at the gate or at the lounge. Never an issue.

2. Are we still doing VeriFly? I travel internationally frequently (I'm in Copenhagen right now) and don't remember the last time I used the VeriFly app. There have been instances where I tried to check in online and was told I had to do it at the airport, but typically I'm able to go back to my record and find some information missing -- almost always a scan of my passport -- and this always resolves the situation and lets me check in online. On my current trip, I'm traveling BA, but the exact same thing happened on the BA app. Initially it told me that I had to check in at the airport, but when I went back and re-entered all of my passport info (which I guess hadn't transferred from AA, through which I booked the flights) it all worked perfectly.

VeriFLY is currently used only for flights to Aruba, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

I've already deleted the app from my phone.

I am not a frequent international traveler. (So take tht as a disclaimer). But I would have said we have checked in at a kiosk with a passport swipe. Perhaps because we have Global Entry. Or maybe it depends on the destination.

Yes, I learned earlier this year that AA still treats check-in for international itinerary at 60 min even without checked bags. I showed up at a kiosk just after T-60 min and it denied check-in. I was able to get the agent at the counter to override the system to issue me BPs.

And what was classic AA was that the inbound domestic aircraft was running over 30 minutes late, so I knew I was really getting there at least by T-90 min, but of course AA didn't update my scheduled departure time until last minute. :rolleyes: