The transmission and phase properties of electron transport through a quantum dot (QD) with variable coupling to a third-terminal probe are investigated analytically for the case of the QD connected directly to source and drain reservoirs and when the QD is embedded in one arm of an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) ring. Using the tight-binding model, explicit analytical expressions of the transmission through the QD for each case are given. Expressions for the conductance with coupling to the third terminal, which breaks unitarity and phase-locking, are also given. It is shown that in a three-terminal interferometer the zero of the Fano resonance in the transmission moves off the real energy axis for finite values of the coupling parameter. The zero orbits around the pole in the complex energy plane as a function of magnetic flux through the ring, and can be returned to the real energy axis unless the coupling parameter exceeds a critical value. With the QD embedded in one arm of the AB ring, the electron transmission and the transmission phase, and the phase of the AB oscillations, are described in relation to the degree of coupling to the third-terminal probe which opens the interferometer. By tuning the degree of coupling to the probe, it is shown that the phase of the AB oscillations can be made to match the intrinsic phase of the QD, facilitating experimental characterization of the phase response of the QD.