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US domestic baggage allowance on Air NZ tickets

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Old Jul 27, 2014, 3:22 am
  #1  
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US domestic baggage allowance on Air NZ tickets

I'm flying to the US next week and have a flight back from LAS to AKL via SFO. It was only today while printing out my flights that I realised this Virgin America sector doesn't include baggage and I'll have to pay $25 for this at check-in.

Does anybody know when Air NZ's policy changed in regard to this? I've had US domestic flights with Delta and US Airways on Air NZ tickets in the past that have all included a baggage allowance.
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Old Jul 27, 2014, 3:32 am
  #2  
 
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If it's on the one ticket, then doesn't IATA Resolution 302 dictate that the Most Significant Carrier's baggage policy applies for the entire journey, in this case NZ (assuming it's an NZ-marketed ticket)?
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Old Jul 27, 2014, 2:11 pm
  #3  
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After spending more time on the phone with Air NZ they're saying it's because I have a stopover in SFO for more than 24 hours (it's about a 27 hour stopover) but I'm still in discussions with them over this.

I've had no issues in the past with baggage allowances with US Airways or Delta, both with stopovers of more than 24 hours in the case of my trip last October.

My ticket is booked with Air NZ and flying NZ from WLG to YVR and from SFO to WLG. It's just Virgin from LAS to SFO.

Last edited by sbiddle; Jul 27, 2014 at 2:30 pm
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Old Jul 27, 2014, 3:25 pm
  #4  
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US law -- forget about IATA policies -- requires that if you are on a single ticket originating in / destined to the USA, that the baggage allowance for the marketing carrier of the first segment applies to the entire ticket.

Thus, if you are on one ticket all the way through, your allowance for segment 1 applies to the LAS-SFO segment.

This may take you hours at the airport to resolve, so you're going to have to determine how much your time is worth. You can always pay up and then request a refund after you are home.
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Old Jul 27, 2014, 4:53 pm
  #5  
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I've just heard back from Air NZ.

Because the destination of my first flight is YVR they're saying the charge is correct and that IATA rules don't apply. I'm driving into the US and have a separate ticket from SEA to LAS before this flight.

At the end of the day it's only a $25 charge so not the end of the world, it was more that my understanding was that it should be included.

The service from Air NZ has been great though - they even offered to change me to a UA flight for no charge which would have given me my 1 bag free for *G but I think I'd prefer a 2PM flight from Vegas on a Saturday rather than having to get up early for a 10am one! :-)
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Old Jul 27, 2014, 5:39 pm
  #6  
 
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Originally Posted by sbiddle
I think I'd prefer a 2PM flight from Vegas on a Saturday rather than having to get up early for a 10am one! :-)
That alone is probably worth $25!
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Old Jul 27, 2014, 8:07 pm
  #7  
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Originally Posted by pbl22
That alone is probably worth $25!
Yip..

And my AKL->YVR RU to BP cleared so it's not all bad.
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Old Jul 27, 2014, 11:41 pm
  #8  
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Originally Posted by sbiddle
I've just heard back from Air NZ.

Because the destination of my first flight is YVR they're saying the charge is correct and that IATA rules don't apply ...
Actually IATA 302 can still apply; it's just the USA DOT exception clauses that don't.

Without the DOT exception, a separate baggage allowance is calculated for each Journey within the booking (rather than the entire booking).

I am assuming your booking is AKL-YVR, LAS-SFO and SFO-AKL. That is three journies. Since these are single segment journies IATA 302 is irrelevant.

If you were in SFO for no more than 24 hours then you would have two Journies: AKL-YVR and LAS-xSFO-AKL and with IATA 302, the MSC for your LAS-AKL journey would be that for the SFO-AKL leg.
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