aadkins74

Plan on flying to Germany on US in Nov with family. My husband and I are in ICT, my SIL and her 2 kids are in CMH.

the plan right now:
me and the hubs to fly to CMH on the 13th on an AA RT ticket
the 5 of us fly to MUC via US on the 14th (afternoon departure from CMH)
the 5 of us return to CMH via US on the 22nd
me and the hubs fly home to ICT on the 23rd on AA RT ticket

My biggest concern is protecting the outbound CMH-PHL-MUC and the return CMH-ORD-ICT in the event of WX/MX issues, while ensuring that the 5 of us aren't split up on the international part (would be SIL & kids first international travel).

What is the best way to book with US? Is it possible to book this with US so was are on the same PNR in spite of our differing departure cities?

CDKing

Nope they cannot be put on the same record locator or ticket

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Book the five of you together on the US flights. Book the two of you separately on the AA flights.

aadkins74

Yeah, that's what I was thinking... Thanks for the responses!

Is there any chance AA will be able to check my luggage on to Munich since the 'layover' in CMH would probably be less than 12 hours?

JPG3392

I've read your post carefully, but I'm not clear on what tickets you have purchased or plan to purchase. Am I right in thinking that you will have 2 RT tickets on AA to fly ICT-CMH November 13-23, and separate 5 RT tickets on US to fly CMH-MUC November 14-22? If this is correct, you have two distinct trips, not a 'layover' in Columbus. Under those circumstances, I doubt very much that your luggage can be checked through in either direction. It would also mean that policies regarding fees for checked baggage on the AA flights would differ from those on the US flights, since the US travel involves an international segment and the AA travel does not.

wrp96

As long as the stop at CMH is less than 12 hours, AA at ICT should be willing to check through and may in fact waive the domestic baggage fees if you point out you are connecting to an international flight.

In addition, because one of the itineraries involves AA, AA's policy of treating separate itineraries as one in the case of misconnects (as long as one of the airlines is AA and the other airline is part of oneworld) will come into play.

aadkins74

Yes, the tickets would be purchased as follows:

One AA reservation ICT-CMH for myself and my hubs Nov 13-23
One US reservation CMH-MUC for me, hubs, SIL and two kids Nov 14-22

I wasn't aware of AA's policy about treating the two reservations as one, so it sounds like that will address most of the concerns I have about misconnects, weather delays, etc.

Thanks for the info!!