OGG flyer

Firstly, I am not complaining here as I was not too bothered by this. I am only writing here because the boarding process didn't strike me as appropriate. So I am curious.

So BA and Gate agents arrived in good time at the gate ready for boarding. The boarding process started as normal, first with folks requiring assistance, shortly followed by Group 1 etc. Queues formed and folks started boarding group 1.

Then an announcement came that anyone who had a connecting flight had to have their boarding cards re-printed and documents rechecked. This meant that people who arrived at the gate via a connection had to abandon boarding/queueing and go to another desk.

This didn't look right to me, surely this should have been done before boarding commenced?

The result of this was that people who had to re-print boarding passed boarded last, including group 1/J passengers. Personally I am not bothered by this as was travelling in 40% full WTP cabin, so made no difference to me.

Another observation I have is that why this does happen in the first place? Does BA not trust AA boarding agents (in my case at least) to validate the documents?
The AA against who checked us in and printed the TPA-PHL and PHL-LHR cards was lovely. (single PNR) We had a chat of how thrilled she was that we were VeriFly-ed as she would otherwise have to check all documents required for travel to UK manually, it took her ages for folks without verify ... The BA agent re-printing the cards didn't do anything different, simply checked veryfly status and reprinted cards. Others without veryfly had to have their documents rechecked yet again.

In either case, it looks like either BA does not trust AA check-in agent doing their job correctly, or they unnecessarily called us (and potentially) others. And why did BA agent say to throw away AA boarding pass for PHL-LHR leg, the pass was fine.

Apologies, as a semi-frequent flier I am not as versed in the procedures here and not as knowledgeable as many folks here, so I may be missing something. But the whole process struck me as odd. I heard complaints in the background made by other folks who had to go through the revalidation TWICE and as a result boarded last, even though flew in J.

On a positive note, the BA66 crew was lovely and the beef steak severed was one of the better meals I had. And I liked how communicative the pilot was via the PA prior to departure and in-flight (slightly humorous yet professional). Great crew.

Final observation is that the staff at the gate doing the boarding didn't look like BA staff, more like subcontractors/airport staff. The folks doing rechecks at a separate desk were BA.

Andriyko

For as long as I can remember, you always had to see a BA agent when connecting from a different airline in the USA. I don’t know why, but this is how it’s always been. On at least one occasion the process ensured that our bags continued flying with us.

fatmac70

I have had AA do a doc check when arriving into US on BA and then flying internationally with AA. BA boarding pass replaced by AA pass.
I have had examples where I have checked in with AA at PHL transit in ORD to LHR again on AA and had another doc check. This was before VeriFLY.

OGG flyer

Really? I did perhaps a dozen of OGG-LAX-LHR flights and many of these I didn't have too. Though it has been inconsistent in recent years, but since 2011-iish AA staff could print both boarding cards at OGG and check all the bags through, I stayed airside at LAX and boarded on AA boarding pass. Though recent few flights prior to Covid the OGG agent could only print OGG-LAX leg. But prior to that, no problem.

EDIT: perhaps it is my memory, as some of these flights both legs would be on AA , so may be my bad!

Schwann

The document check thing at the gate has been there even before COVID, a lot of carriers do it when coming off connecting flights. I remember having it done at DFW when connecting from AA to BA at DFW on two occasions. And then the same at HKG when connecting from QF to QR. I think COVID has just made that harder work.

The onus is on the operating carrier to have checked the documents.. as even if the AA agent checked prior to taking that domestic flight, it'll be BA in trouble if they land someone who they shouldn't.

Maybe someone forgot to announce document checks before boarding is my guess..

KARFA

I think the differing experience is based on what your passport is. For a UK passport holder heading to the UK you wouldn't expect to have to do a doc check at the BA gate when connecting in on AA.

Usually they would read out a list of names of people who still require doc checks to come to the gate prior to starting boarding, but for some reason it seems they didn't at PHL in your case.

OGG flyer

EDIT: perhaps it is my memory, as some of these flights both legs would be on AA , so may be my bad!

That's what happens when you get older, you memory gets worse :-)

BrianDromey

I dont know for sure but my guess it has to do with the different check-in and boarding systems BA (Amadeus) and AA (Sabre) use. Whatever information AA sends to BA must not mark as doc check complete. As verifly is a standalone service and not completely integrated into the OLCI/Airport Check-In, I am not hugely surprised it doesn't work entirely. I think if you had tried to check-in via the BA app & Verifly it might have avoided the doc check - but I cant be sure, especially as you started with an AA flight.

My experience of Verifly hasn't bee that great, the agents in Europe usually ignore it and want to see all the documents anyway.

OGG flyer

I see, so perhaps this was the only odd part.

OGG flyer

yes, we both are UK passport holders.

corporate-wage-slave

There are lots of factors involved here, but the way PHL (and other USA stations) work is that they want to see a BA issued boarding pass since that would have ADOC printed on it and therefore all is well. When people present a variety of boarding passes and Apps (including AA's app), most of which don't have the facility to print ADOC, then the gate people have no clue who has been checked and how well, not least because people on separate tickets or HBO would potentially turn up at the gate without having had any checks, even if AA were perfect at doing their job. So if the OP has their new boarding passes handy, I bet it has ADOC on it, whereas the AA ones would not.

I think BA corporately would prefer everyone to have VeriFLy ready on their screens and also a boarding pass of any type, since that combination is fine, but the real world is that only a minority have access to a VeriFLY screen at that point, VeriFLY doesn't always work seamlessly, people have all sorts of connections, and many people simply aren't IT literate or even possess a smartphone.

This wouldn't affect many FTers since they could sort this out in the lounge.

OGG flyer

Yes, it has ADOC printed. I feel like a student attending a class, always learning something new from CWS and many others here

wrp96

I think the one issue is the waiting until after boarding had commenced to make the announcement about the document recheck. The more that can be taken care of before boarding commences the better.

ORDflyer92

I don't think the issue is that BA doesn't trust AA staff, but rather than many pax are connecting from regional outposts where staff aren't AA and may have very limited experience working with international connections. I flew BMI-ORD-LHR last year and the check in staff at BMI didn't even know what Verifly was.

OGG flyer

Thank you, your explanation makes sense.
But would it not be better for BA to exclude AA checked in PAX? I thought since they are OneWorld and for single PNR ticket, these would be unnecessary. I appreciate this is my perhaps somewhat naïve view as a semi-regular flyer, but should not IT systems cope with it (despite one using Sabre the other Amadeus)? I thought that was one of the points of OneWorld single PNR tickets.

EDIT: the AA agent who checked us in, said she loved Veryfly as otherwise the computer forces here to validate the documents manually. I understand she would not be able to check PAX in if they do not meet criteria enforced by the list provided for entry requirements for the country in question, which she has displayed on the screen as a checklist, and has to confirm manually on the terminal before boarding passes can be issued. At least that is what I understood from her explanation. If this is true, BA's extra boarding check would be superfluous in such cases.

EDIT2: the way I see it, it is not different to direct AA flight from TPA to LHR. Would BA still insist on validating the AA tickets in such case? If not, they why not trust AA for indirect flights? The fact the AA connection, has subsequent BA connection should be irrelevant in my naïve view...