Geogirl1234

If I am flying with a companion do I need to check both in at -24 hours? Or does the companion check herself in separately?

dlaue

You must check in separately. You each have individual confirmation numbers. If you hold A list or A List Preferred status, you will be assigned a boarding number. Otherwise

you will need to check yourself in at T-24 hours or pay for earlybird boarding.

Geogirl1234

mdword

Congratulations on earning the CP, and I hope you guys enjoy it.

I just want to make sure, you did manually add your companion/create a companion reservation, right? If so, when you view your own reservation, you should see the companion's associated reservation and confirmation number.

berkeleybum

Great thread, thanks folks!

I am a newish Companion pass holder and have a roundtrip ticket booked (I know, I know, bad idea, but was booked by a corporate travel agent). Would like to bring my companion on only the return (multi-segment) flight. Is this permissible? If so, should I wait to add my companion until after the outbound has been flown or does it matter?

Thank you!

mdword

Call in, the rep can add the companion to the return. No need to wait til you've flown the outbound. In my experience, the rep adds the companion to only one direction by splitting the reservation into two one ways.

If you have a refundable fare and care to make sure the funds stay refundable, that changes things a bit. I'd type a little wall of text on dealing with that if so, but I'll spare you that unless it's relevant to your situation.

berkeleybum

Thanks! This is great information. It is Y both ways, so your tips on how to keep it refundable would be helpful too!

mdword

You probably know this, but just in case - BS and Anytime fares are completely refundable if canceled (up to 10 minutes before departure), but if you change the reservation rather than canceling it, the funds stop being refundable and instead become travel funds like WGA (credit for future travel by the same person within 1 year of purchase).

If your current booking is on a card onto which you'd be fine with receiving the money back (and seats are still available), the easiest thing for you to do yourself would be to book it again as two one ways and then cancel the roundtrip right after you've booked. If you prefer a rep to take care of it or if rebooking and getting the money back isn't good for you for any reason, you'll need to call in for a rep to do it. However, you'd need to specifically talk to them about how you want to be able to get an actual refund should you need to cancel the trip. If they tell you that it will be refundable, request that they notate that on your reservation and verify that they have. I'd hold on to the call info and rep name just in case.

I once had a situation which required a rep to split my BS roundtrip and I voiced my concerns about losing refundability. The agent told me that splitting the ticket wouldn't count as a change, and I explained to her that it was important to me to make sure the ticket would still be refundable. She assured me it would be fine and she split the ticket. Later, I found that I needed to cancel that flight and I went online to try to get it refunded, but the site only offered me travel funds. I called in and spoke to another rep who told me that splitting the itinerary does indeed count as a change, and in turn, makes the fare paid convert to travel funds. The new rep told me that the previous rep added a note to the reservation indicating that the funds should be able to be completely refunded, and she was able to manually issue a refund for me. I asked her about how it all works in case I find myself in such a situation in the future, and she told me what I told you - that a rep can notate a reservation in such a situation, and the refund can be requested manually by a rep, but you can't request the refund for yourself online in that situation.

If your fare is WGA/not refundable in the first place, calling and asking a rep to split it is all you need to do. Once it's split, you can either have them add your companion or add them yourself online.

ETA- I know that last bit about WGA fares doesn't apply to your situation, berkeleybum. I just put it in case someone with a similar situation is reading this down the line.

jeffandnicole

Speechlady

I will be flying across country and would like to add my companion at the mid-point city. I have been able to do this in the past (on more than one occasion) by calling the Customer Service Department. Today I called the A-List phone number and was told by the agent and her supervisor that this is not possible and has never been possible. I will be changing planes in the mid-way city where I hope to have my companion be able to join me from that city forward. i.e. Flying Houston to DCA with a stop and change of planes in Nashville--would like my companion to join me for the Nashville- DCA leg only. Any suggestions?

steved5480

Hang Up and Call Again. Try using the Regular Folk Number. If that fails, Hang Up and Call Again. Try the Dallas C/S number.

gmax58

willywilkes

Companion boarding position is separate from yours and your fare - just because you purchased BS does not mean she gets categorized differently, so it would all be based off check in T-24 or if ECBI was bought for the ticket.

bocasva

Companion checks in separately with his/her own profile.

lainys

Sorry to hear. I know it doesn't help this past situation however for next time you could try putting both your own carry-on bag AND your second bag in the bin above you (since you're boarding as BS). When your companion reaches you, just take out your smaller bag and put under your seat instanting freeing up an overhead spot for your companion's carry on directly above you!

Just because you're buying BS does not make your companion ticket BS also. It's all dependent on whether he/she buys EBCI or T-24 checkin time. For last minute trips I've gotten BS and he ended up with a C boarding pass. Very common if you're booking 2 hrs before a flight takes off.