Got screwed by American on codeshare flight
 

I'm not usually one to complain as stuff happens, but this really surprised me.

Flew BOS-JFK-DUS this weekend with the first leg on American and the second booked on American and operated by Air Berlin. I had a confirmed preferred coach seat on the Air Berlin flight with plenty of legroom.

Check in online with American and it won't check in my codeshare leg. Ok, go to Air Berlin and try and check in with that PNR and it tells me to check in with American.

Call American and they say I get the second bording pass in BOS. Get to BOS and the desk agent says I have to get the Air Berlin boarding pass at JFK as that's how it works.

Get to JFK to find I forfeited my premium seat because I didn't check in!

Is this a common problem with OW codeshare flights? My bigger gripe is that everyone kept giving me bad info and then I have to suffer for it. I'm tall and the flight was miserable.

My return was bought as AA and operated by BA so I'm assuming this won't be an issue as their systems seem to be more integrated.

How long was your connection in JFK? Usually when a carrier un-assigns your seats they are most of the way through the process of removing you from the flight and auto-cancelling your trip — glad you made the flight!

Sorry to hear that AA was unable to check you in at BOS for both sectors. That sounds like a failure on their part. There is not a lot you could have done differently, except possibly trying to check in online for your airberlin flight as soon as your BOS-JFK had taken off.

Look here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...lidated-5.html

Interesting. When I called AB for a seat assignment she gave me the prefered seat with Saphire status and never asked for a Credit Card. Sounds like this is a grey area.

Yes, my BOS flight was delayed and connection was tight. I don't blame AB for this, but don't understand why American doesn't know how the process. They seemed quite confident in their instructions.

Thanks for the info.

Got screwed by American on codeshare flight
 

AA can check in AB flights. Maybe the codeshare is the problem. XL is not free for OW elite.

When I called to get a seat assignment the AB agent said the system gave me a preferred seat at no charge. Perhaps it wasn't supposed to and that caused the hang up? Water under the bridge now…I'm not a letter writer but I may gripe just so they know people aren't happy.