Booked an award ticket with AA miles but got refused check in at the airport and I’m trying to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Routing was Midwest regional airport to ORD on AA, then ORD to NRT on JAL, then next day HND to PEK on JAL. I hold a Chinese passport and don’t have a Japanese visa.
At the AA counter they refused to check me in, saying Chinese passport holders need a Japanese visa. I pointed out that TIMATIC has an exception for visa free transit with a Transit Pass if you’re transiting within the same airport group, which NRT and HND both are. They wouldn’t scroll further down or acknowledge the exception, and also refused to call JAL to confirm.
In the end I canceled and got my miles back. I’ve now rebooked a very similar itinerary from another regional airport, still AA to ORD and then JAL onward.
For anyone who’s dealt with this before, how do you actually get checked in successfully when agents only seem to read the first line of TIMATIC? Is there a way to get a supervisor involved or some document I should bring? And what system do AA agents actually see on their end?
Trying to avoid another wasted airport trip.
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