How Do Airlines Know Your OW Status?
 

If someone has OW status, how do the OW airlines know?

A relative of mine expects to gain OW Ruby status by virtue of having status on a OW airline (not AA).

Later, if she decides to fly on AA using a ticket purchased on AA.com, how will AA.com know to offer her the benefits that go with Ruby?

Thank you.

She'd have to either add that airlines' FF number to the ticket or ask for the benefits by showing the card (if she's gotten it by then)

In this case, she will want AA miles and not miles from the other airline's FF program. I wonder if there is any way to do some sort of permanent linkage (OW status -> AA status) online?

It is linked. Just add AA number into reservation on any OW carrier and status should be updated.

So are you saying that your relative wants to use Ruby status from another airline while accuring miles to AAdvatage? If so, she would have to change the FF number during check-in. Any OW airline can see the status of FF card holders from another OW airline from their system.

The OP was asking about a permanent linkage (between two OW accounts, one with status and one without), as AFAIK there is none.

The post above details how to do it (change FF program at check-in) for a paid flight. (You buy the flight using the FF program you have status with, then at check-in change to the FF program you want to earn with.)

I still don't understand how/if I can use my OW status benefits if I book using miles from a OW partner where I don't have status. (In particular, I have EXP now and lifetime PLT status at AA, but no status while a lot of miles over at BA, and with Avios new scheme, for short intra-US flights, BA miles may sometimes make more sense than AA miles. But how do I get priority check-in, priority boarding, etc, if my BA account with which I book the award flight on AA and my AA account that has the status aren't linked? (And I'm not aware of a feature on ba.com where I can specify another OW account while booking a flight using BA miles.)

You can simply change the frequent flyer number associated with the reservation using Manage My Booking while not logged into your BAEC account.

Ruby/Emerald
 

I booked an RJ flight a few months ago, when I was Gold with AA. Subsequently my status changed to Platinum, but when I flew today, RJ insisted I was "only" Ruby, so they would not admit me to the lounge (in TLV.) I showed them my Platinum card, to no avail.

Has this happened to others? I thought the system should be better than this.

In Malev lounges in BUD they need the card as they can't access the whatever systems they would need to access to see your status. They don't trust either the emerald printed on the boarding pass.

I'm trying to figure this out as well. Dans deals dot com had a link about joining kingfisher as a silver without any flights and then when kingfisher joins OW, you have ruby status automatically. So I'm trying to figure out if I can use that to get free baggage on aa routes and aa revenue , just saying "i am ow ruby can i check bags free?".

I'm wondering if it matters which OW partner one books with.

They have an eye scanner that scans your eye to identify if you are oneworld ruby. :P

This (old status) is very common, after you get new status you need to call and ask AA (in your case and mine) to update all your reservations to the new status. For some reason the status at the time of ticketing seems to stick unless manual action is taken.

Not accepting the Platinum card is a new one, I have seen the opposite - reservation and ticket show status but no club access without a card. This is the first time I have heard of Card showing OW Emerald or Sapphire + OW boarding card <> club access :td:

In my experience AA doesn't tie up too neatly when you are a OW elite on another OW carrier. I do about 2/3 of my flying on AA but am a LAN Sapphire.

I find that although my FF number appears on my boarding pass, status does NOT. The only time I have really pulled them up on it was in HNL when my FF number didn't appear on my boarding pass.

I asked them to make sure it was added to my reservation, the woman checked and at that point manually stamped my boarding pass with "Gold Lane"

So it seems that in the system the status appears but it does not show on the boarding pass, not much use if you want to use AA preferential boarding because your boarding pass doesn't show OW elite status.

That said AA doesn't really extend many benefits to other OW elites, for example no access to blocked out seating as an AA elite would have on LAN. As a Sapphire it would be handier for getting into their lounges if they could print status on the BP

That's contrary to my experience though. I am a CX Sapphire and my status always shows on my AA BPs, whether I booked if through CX or on AA.com.

This is my experience as well. Yesterday I (AY Gold = OW Sapphire) flew LHR-ORD on AA. The BP doesn't have my FF number, but it clearly states SAPPHIRE. Actually twice ;)