luvtotravel

Flights tomorrow. Now I'm stressed. Flying Ontario (Calif.) to Dallas to London. Both flights on American Airlines. I have my seat assignments. Paid extra last week to upgrade to economy plus on the flight between California and Dallas. Today I purchased priority boarding--was an option while checking in. I get a message stating that I cannot check in online and must see someone at the checkin counter. I called American Airlines and the woman I spoke with said everything looked in order and to try again later. Well, I have tried several times and I keep getting the same message. I even tried a different web browser. I have Global Entry that includes TSA pre-check. That number is on my record.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to why they will not allow me to check in and get my boarding pass?

MmePerdu

If I recall correctly, it's normal for international flights. They want to look at your passport, etc.

socaltraveler

Exactly that. You have an international leg, they need to see your passport. Same thing with our trip to Portugal in May, Sacramento to Dallas to Madrid. Could not check in online. You will be fine.

Dukey1

Above folks are correct. You cannot do the online check-in even though in my case American KNOWS my Passport number and my Global Entry number and every OTHER number about me since I am in the Advantage FF program.

The agent will SCAN your passport before giving you a boarding pass. RELAX. this is ROUTINE

greg

For international flights, the airline must see the passport at some point before boarding whether using a scanner or in person. I think allowing people to print boarding pass lets people to proceed to the gate only to call them before boarding to verify the passport in order to avoid having to inspect the passport during the busy boarding process. It seems American is addressing the issue more forcefully to avoid slow boarding impacting gate pull away. On Delta flights, I always see people being called well before the boarding time to show their passport. Even so, there are a few people who slip through the process and hold the boarding queue while their passports are inspected. I think they want be sure the passport is valid whatever month it needs to valid after the entry date. They seem to be picky if you just obtained or renewed your passport.

Andrew

I've never had trouble checking in online for an international flight - at least in the last few years. In May I flew AA from Philly to Venice, and I had no problem checking in online with my phone. (Well...there was a little snafu with my phone at the very last minute involving the AA app, and the boarding pass I had had visible a few minutes before boarding suddenly vanished...and it turned out to be easier to run over to the AA counter and have them re-print my boarding pass at the last second.)

I think I gave my passport info on the AA website when checking in, although I think they needed to see it again at the airport too. As expected.

thursdaysd

American has done this for years. If Andrew was able to check in online for an international flight on American that is a major change. (And yes, they have my passport info..)

NewbE

Agree with everyone who says it's not possible to check in online for international flights, but also want to know what magic Andrew has!

Andrew

The last few years, I've been able to check in online for AA and Delta for international flights - which gave me a boarding pass good enough to get through TSA. But I've always had to check in at the gate again with my passport and then get a new boarding pass there- I assumed that was routine.

luvtotravel can't even get that initial boarding pass online - that I find odd.

Could I have had an easier time checking in because I don't check any bags?

MmePerdu

"luvtotravel can't even get that initial boarding pass online - that I find odd."

They give both boarding passes when you check in for the first flight, not odd at all.


"...because I don't check any bags?"

Nothing to do with luggage.

KTtravel

I had this problem the last time I flew but all was smooth at the airport. It was annoying. Since you have assigned seats, I would try not to worry too much. Try not to stress, get to the airport early and have a good trip.

luvtotravel

Thank you all for responding. I've taken more than two dozen international trips and never had a problem printing out my boarding passes.

I am in American's Advantage program, but that didn't help with this issue.

A few months ago I flew British Airways to Italy from Los Angeles, connecting through London. No problems (except flying home with BA on May 27, the day of the big computer meltdown--but that's another story). I checked in and got my boarding passes as usual.

Interesting to learn that this has happened to others. I'll rest a little easier tonight.

Andrew

Obviously it's a whole different story checking in overseas for a flight back to the US - but I found it odd flying home from Paris in May that I could not check in for my Delta flight home online using the Delta app. But I was able to check-in and get boarding passes with the Air France app, even though it was a Delta flight, not an AF flight. (Boarding passes had to be printed, though, even though I used my phone.)

I am still surprised to hear that so many of you can't check-in for your international flights online, to fly overseas from the US. I would find that annoying!

MmePerdu

I'm always so glad to be going I don't care in the slightest where I get my boarding pass, as long as I get it. So far so good. 52 years since my first flight to Paris.

hetismij2

Last time we were in the U.S. we could check in online for our BA flights home.
The time before that, on KLM too.
Both times we had the boarding pass on our phones.

luvtotravel

Reporting back now that I'm home from my trip. When I arrived at the airport ticket counter the person checking me in was surprised that I had a problem as everything appeared in order. She said it was most likely a computer-glich.

American Airlines was offering business class upgrades Dallas to London for $500 and I took it. I had no problem printing out my boarding passes for my flights home from London.