YVR-YYZ-EWR: Interline bags?

Old Jun 23, 2012, 4:53 am
  #1  
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YVR-YYZ-EWR: Interline bags?

To simplify travel and possibly avoid UA/CO baggage check fees I'm wondering if it would be possible to check bags at YVR through to EWR even though we intend making a ~24h transit at YYZ where we'll leave the airport.

I'm guessing no since we'll presumably have to do US immigration pre-clearance at YYZ and need to have bags with us at that time.

I'm hoping that the recheck fees will be skipped due to one of:
  • We're on I class YVR-YYZ;
  • YYZ-EWR is X class, which might be treated as 'full economy' by UA/CO so allows two free bags.
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Old Jun 23, 2012, 5:10 am
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YVR-YYZ-EWR: Interline bags?

If you weren't making the 24 stop you would have been fine. Because of the long connection, do not believe you get your bags thought tagged the entire way but you can certainly ask in YVR.

Either way you would get you bags at YYZ for customs just a question of how long they are in your control before dropping at the US belt. If you got them checked through you could always try to go through US customs with the tagged bags the next day and out them on the belt on the other side. You'll just need to make sure that you don't see any checkin agents again.

As for your other tricks. A Y award ticket would still require fees you could try showing them it is a J ticket with a leg in Y and they may waive it. If you really want to be sure to avoid the fees pack lighter and go carry on. UA will have gate check on your flight so you won't have to fight overheads.
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Old Jun 23, 2012, 10:34 am
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Originally Posted by yyzgigi
If you weren't making the 24 stop you would have been fine. Because of the long connection, do not believe you get your bags thought tagged the entire way but you can certainly ask in YVR.
OK, well I hope a transit is a transit so we will be able to interline them, then leave YYZ airside once we've got the bags onto the US side.

Originally Posted by yyzgigi
As for your other tricks. A Y award ticket would still require fees you could try showing them it is a J ticket with a leg in Y and they may waive it. If you really want to be sure to avoid the fees pack lighter and go carry on
Darn. X class seems to attract 'full fare' benefits such as changes, refunds, etc so I was hoping it'd do the same for baggage .

I usually travel carry-on only for business trips of a couple of weeks, which is one of the reasons I'm pretty clueless on checking baggage anywhere! But this is a 3 week family camping trip to Canada with tent, etc so not so easy !

Originally Posted by yyzgigi
UA will have gate check on your flight so you won't have to fight overheads.
Sorry I don't understand what this means. Is it good or bad for us ?
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Old Jun 23, 2012, 5:24 pm
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Originally Posted by EsherFlyer
Sorry I don't understand what this means. Is it good or bad for us ?
They will take any larger carry on bags you have at the gate (before you board), and return them to you when you get off the plane in the jetway. Which is good because you don't have to fight with people to get space in an overhead bin, you just won't have access to whatever carry on you gate check during the flight.

If you have ever seen someone waiting in the jetway for a stroller after a flight, it's basically the same thing.

Last edited by kelapstick; Jun 23, 2012 at 5:25 pm Reason: fix
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Old Jun 23, 2012, 8:36 pm
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Prior to BMI exiting *A, I had a layover that was more than 24 hours from take off to take off, but just under 24 hours from landing in LHR (from DUB) on BMI and my next flight on UA to EWR on UA.

BMI check in staff said I could not check in, but after politly pressing the issue, and having her check with a supervisor, I was able to do it. Fights were all on the same PRN, and I did make a point of the actual layover LHR being less than 24 hours (while the take offs were a bit over 24 hours).

I think while I was allowed to do it (and I was able to board my LHR outbound flight and get my luggage without a hitch), I don't think it was normal. Like LHR, YYZ does have lots of long haul flights, so it should have an overnight secure luggage facility, but it but perhaps its not set up for "international" (if you count US and Canada as domestic) in which case, even if they let you do it, it might not be a good idea.

I can tell you, it was wonderful to turn up at LHR less than an hour before take off, pass though security, and hand my board pass (secured in DUB) to the gate agent before walking onto the plane.
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Old Jun 23, 2012, 8:54 pm
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Procedure at YYZ is you need to exit Dom gate area (ie go landside), claim checked bags (with tag for connecting flight to US), clear US customs, put checked bags on belt, clear security and then off to the gate.

There is no opportunity to drop your bags and then exit the airport. This would mean re-entering Canada via customs and I'm really not sure what would happen to your bags.

Best case, agent in YVR tags your bags with the following day's connecting flight. This way you pick them up in YYZ and following day, go through US customs without having to see an agent.
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 2:58 pm
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Originally Posted by wolvie007
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Procedure at YYZ is...
Thanks for the clear explanation ^. I'll try and get the bags tagged for EWR at YVR, but expact to atke thme to the hotel in YYZ.
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