oneworld82

Hi, I am AAdvantage Platinum and flying OW Nice - LHR - Bos, first leg on BA and second on AA.
As I understand, I am entitled to two free suitcases, up to 50 lbs, right? Should I wanna bring a third one, how much will I pay? I cannot find that info anywhere!

thanks!!

bdemaria

Explained on the baggage page of aa.com

oneworld82

nope, it is not, this is why I asked here there it says to call them to know...

SeeBuyFly

It depends on distance, weight, type of item, demand for air freight shipments on that route, and perhaps the phase of the moon. It's just like asking what the air fare for that route is...you have to ask the airline, not us. They will have to give you a quote.

mvoight

Nevermind. I failed to notice the first leg was NOT on AA.
So, it is up to BA.

GUWonder

You will have to deal with BA (and its baggage fees) if BA is checking in the luggage to BOS.

JDiver

£40 per bag, for the first extra bag; £90 per bag fourth and over, if paid at the airport.

BA extra luggage fees: link

Easily found using Google, keywords "british airways luggage"

oneworld82

Oh really? But my flight is an AAdvantage award travel. Does it really apply that? It would be cool 'cause BA rates are LOW!

GUWonder

The rules/fees applicable are generally that of the operating airline that checks in the bags regardless of which airline issued the ticket.

oneworld82

Just to recap. My flight is OW booked as AAdvantage award travel. Itinerary is: Nice - London on BA (codeshare with AA) and then Lon - Bos on AA. Since I am AA Platinum, the AA rep told me I am allowed two pieces of luggage from Nice to boston, can you confirm that?

Then, for any extra luggage, I will have to pay the BA stated fee because the first leg is flown on a BA flight? Does it matter it is codeshare?

thanks!

hillrider

Just to confirm, there are no rules about this; the Conditions of Carriage and International General Rules AA1 imposed on you are vague (the latter say "In addition to the charges or fees included as part of the purchased fare(s) on the ticket, passengers on codeshare flights operated by another carrier may also be subject to charges and fees imposed by the operating codeshare carrier"), and the DOT has not forced the airlines to provide any clarity on this subject.

The practice seems that at each check-in, whatever rules the (operating) carrier that checks you in apply to all of the flights you're checking in for, even if you're switching operating carriers. This is irrespective of whether you're booked directly or as a codeshare, whose carrier's tariff is used for the pricing unit(s) for the segment(s) you're checking in for, which carrier issued your ticket, or anything else.

Since there are no rules and it's not part of your contract, this practice may or may not be universal and may change at any moment. You may try to get something in writing from the airline (what an employee tells you orally has no validity whatsoever).

You can (and should) let the DOT know about this confusion and how it's affecting you at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/escomplaint/es.cfm; they've started listening to voters again, and can't force the airlines to fix the issue until they know about it from fliers.

FrAAmer

I had a similar situation- but I was flying Florence to Brussels on Brussels Air (AA partner) to catch AA to Chicago. I had an extra suitcase (2) because I picked up our daughter's winter clothes (she was at school in Florence). My wife only had one bag. So we had three bags for two people.

We are Platinum with AA, but Brussels Air, while flying as a partner with AA, is a Star Alliance member, not One World - and they would not recognize my AA/One World status. We were flying First Class on AA.

And, they only considered our flight to Brussels an intra-european leg since we were not departing on AA until two days later. (Due to connection times, the AA flight required an overnight stay so we decided to make it two nights and see Brussels for a day).

So, we had to wait for at least 20 minutes and a lot of phone calls back and forth to determine how much to charge us for the SECOND bag. They made us step aside from the Business Class line while they served other people and kept making phone calls. Eventually they just could not get an answer so they put my 2nd bag through without a charge. SO, it appears that even the gate agents MAY not know how to and how much to charge for an "extra" bag.

I am posting this to let others know that it could happen and one needs to allow extra time for check in - if we were pressed for time, it could have been very stressful. IF we were connecting directly to the AA flight, I don't think it would have been such a problem, but the overnight(s) may have complicated the situation.

hillrider

Thanks for sharing your experience. If it hadn't impacted you (a customer), it would be comical.

BTW, I don't agree with your conclusion; in general agents waive nuisance fees instead of being the reason why the passenger missed their flight (doesn't look good when their manager discusses your angry letter with them). Had you arrived later, you might have not had to wait 20 minutes before he/she gave up with the calls, but much less.

JDiver

As hillrider and GUWonder explain, YMMV, but it is usually the operating carrier that will prevail - and you won't see your bags at an AA counter on your return, so regardless of the source of your trip (dollars, pounds, miles, etc.) it's highly unlikely AA rules will be applied.

To put it mildly, the airlines are capricious and have been in the catbird seat - they write the rules, they choose how to enforce them, we get to react and complain with varying degrees of effectiveness.

oneworld82

this sucks... uff... I hope I can AT LEAST bring tw osuitcases on board...