Online Check-In

Try the online check-in, but don't be alarmed if it doesn't work. Last time I flew United on a non-stop flight to Heathrow and online check-in did not work for me. I didn't get a straight answer when I got to the airport as to why it didn't work for me (I've used it with no issue in the past). Are you on a single ticket? If you are on a single ticket, then you should be able to check your bag all the way through to London. It seems odd that you have a connecting flight from United to BA as they are not partners. Normally, it would be American Airlines combined with BA.

Thanks Laura and you are correct, it is an American Airlines flight lol. It is a single ticket so I am assuming that if I check in at the airport then I would go to the AA desk and not the BA desk is that correct?? If I do it online then how do I get the label for my suitcase? I guess I will find out on Wed lol

When you check in online, you will indicate that you have a bag to check. When you get to the airport, there will be a line for people who are only checking bags (it will be shorter than the normal check-in line). You take your boarding pass up (the one you printed at home) and they will print out your baggage tag and take your bag. It is easy.

I believe that United has an interline agreement with BA, which means that you should be able to check the bag to your final destination. If you are allowed to check in online (and you may not be because this is an international flight), you would check in, print your boarding passes, and then drop off your luggage with United before going to the gate. The advantage is that it takes less time to drop off a bag vs. go through the entire economy line.

I seem to remember reading somewhere, think recently on this site, that you can get seat assignments on BA no sooner than 24 hours prior to boarding, not talking about printing boarding pass but the actual seat assignment or something like that so you might be able to choose your seat but be careful as have read you may pay extra and with your tight budget you don't want to do that, hope someone else can clarify it for you.

Thank you all :). I will definitely at least take a look tomorrow, making sure I am under the 24 hours lol. Hopefully the BA site will be up and running because they did mention it might be down for maintenance. In which case I might not even be able to check in online.

Linzi, I tend to use online check-in when travelling on domestic flights, but prefer to check-in at the counter when taking international flights. That allows me to get the Boarding Cards and also to check my luggage. Being able to speak to an agent also allows me to confirm that my checked luggage will be going all the way to my final destination. I've found that airports in Europe are using check-in via automated Kiosks these days, rather than at the counter. After the boarding card and luggage tag(s) are issued, travellers drop checked luggage on the conveyor belt. You may have to deal with that at some point in your trip. Many people these days seem to be having Boarding Passes sent to their mobile phone, but I'm still kind of "old school" and prefer a hard copy. Cheers!

Linzi, you can check in online AND get your seat assignment 24 hours prior. The seat assignment part, for me, is the most important advantage of checking in online. It's the only way nowadays to avoid being stuck with a middle seat, it seems. You will need your passport at hand when you do so. Here's a tip: you don't need to print your boarding pass at home. Just show up at the airport as you normally would in the past. The fact that you will have gotten your seat assignments and filled in the passport info beforehand will just speed up your process. BTW, your bag will be checked right through to London.

last time I checked in on-line the bag checkin fee was chaeaper than if we had done it in person; also as i recall it could only be done within 24 hours of the affected flights- that is you may have a problem with getting check-in for your flight from Dallas. not sure if that is still the case- but do be aware

I always use online check in - but did have a similar problem with United once where I must have "tried later" for about eight hours before the site was working correctly. I moved to the mid-Atlantic primarily so I can take advantage of direct flights so it's been too long since I've done a second check in. If the flight was booked together, one check-in might be fine. If they are booked seperately, you may have to go to both. We also carry-on so when we arrive at the airport, boarding pass printed at home (or printed at a self serve kiosk if online didn't work), we go directly to the gate. One thing I do a lot of is rechecking seat availability, even after I've gotten my assigned seats. If I'm not 100 percent happy with my seats, I'll check several times at home and once more at the kiosk when I get to the airport. Often seats that had been held back are released very late.

Hello all :) Well I found the answer to my enquiry by calling BA. Unfortunately I couldn't check in online because even though I booked thru BA and it was a single booking, meaning both legs from PHX to DFW and then DFW to LHR were booked at the same time, there is an International component. Even tho the first flight to DFW is an AA flight it has a BA flight number and when I tried first to check in online before calling BA it took me to the AA web site and wouldn't let me check in because of the second flight, even tho I was within the 24hr window for both flights. If it had been direct to LHR there wouldn't have been a problem.
So there you go! Lol. Oh we'll, am heading to airport in 3 hrs so thanks for all your help and advice. London here I come :)