No, AA will not "ping" you at check-in. The only time AA will collect money at check-in is if any government/airport imposed tax/fee/charge (TFC) is not collected and shown on the ticket.

Q/YQ/YR are fees imposed by the transporting airline. YQ/YR generally only apply when the ticket is validated on the ticket stock of the transporting airline (say AA/001 ticket for travel on AA). Unless there is a bilateral agreement between two airlines, the YQ/YR cannot be billed by the transporting airline to the ticketing airline (say, MX/132 ticket for travel on AF, AF cannot bill MX for a YQ, even if one was collected).

Q, on the other hand, is a charge filed within a fare. Until recently ZED fares were not filed, they were generally manually priced or priced against a ticket designator. So a Q charge could not apply since there was no filed fare involved. The ZED agreement specifically states that carriers cannot collect a TFC if it is not one remitted to a government or airport authority. So, when ZED fares are fully filed, the fare rule cannot contain a Q.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ItalGreco @ Sep 9 2008, 12:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
What an airline chooses to do upon check in, is another matter.

I am aware that Air India has collected the fuel surcharge from colleagues via MCO before allowing them to board from India.[/b]
Per the ZED agreement, airlines may not collect a Q/YQ/YR or other self-imposed charge upon check-in. Again, the ZED agreement specifically prohibits this. If you, or anyone you know, have been charged a TFC (other than those remitted to a government or airport authority) report it to your staff travel office. ZED has sucessfully stopped a couple of carriers from this practice, but only after it was reported by staff.