Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - Interlining baggage (separate PNR) and transit through Jnb

Perhaps I should have asked before I booked....later this year, I have a flight (paid economy) on SA Airlink booked on SAA codeshare arriving at Jnb from Mqp (Nelspruitt), connecting to another SAA flight (business award) to Cpt exactly 2 hours later. The 2 flights are on separate PNRs. Can I check my luggage all the way to Cpt from Nelspruitt, and collect my BPs for the Jnb-Cpt leg from Nelspruitt airport despite the separate PNRs?

If not, do I have sufficient time to collect my luggage and recheck in at Jnb in the 2 hour transit time? If FTers think not, I might have to fly carryon only:eek:

Anyone...?:)

You will have to collect your bags in JNB

Patience! Allow 2-3 days to get some decent replies. Two hours will work in the event you need to reclaim your bags. I bet SAA will be able to through-check your bags. Give the reservations line a call - they can look up the official policy.

Patience! Allow 2-3 days to get some decent replies. Two hours will work in the event you need to reclaim your bags. I bet SAA will be able to through-check your bags. Give the reservations line a call - they can look up the official policy.

Agree, it is most likely that they will interline the bags for you, but 2 hours is sufficient to collect and re-check if necessary.

Any final thoughts about interlining bags on above flghts which are on separate PNRs? Flights are in 2 weeks...

No worries about the PNR, as its revenue and award travel they have to be on separate PNRs

Phone the call centre and have them endorse each PNR as "in conjunction with" on the system, then there will be no reason not to interline the bags for you.

No worries about the PNR, as its revenue and award travel they have to be on separate PNRs

Phone the call centre and have them endorse each PNR as "in conjunction with" on the system, then there will be no reason not to interline the bags for you.Thanks for the advice^. Took 3 calls!! 1st agent said to ask at checkin whether possible, she was unable to enter anything in the booking! 2nd agent said not possible and that I have to recollect bag at Jnb and recheck the bag for the next flight to Cpt. 3rd agent endorsed the bookings as you described above so hopefully it will all be fine now; I guess I will find out the real answer at the airport at Mqp:eek:. Worse case secenario I guess will be to collect and recheck bags at Jnb:(...have 2 hours so should be OK.

On a single ticket, I'm scheduled to fly with SA & ET on the following three flights: CPT-x/JNB-x/ADD-KRT. As these are all in one PNR, I'm certain SAA will be able to check me (and my bags) all the way through to KRT. So far, so good.

However, once in Sudan, I'm planning to continue my journey with RJ , traveling two additional sectorsKRT-x/AMM-MAD.

I already found out that ET can check bags onto RJ; however, since my initial check-in will be with SA in CPT, I wonder if they'll be able/willing to do this for me, especially since the SA/ET and RJ flights are on separate tickets.

Further complicating things, once in Spain, I'll continue with IB for one more flight to ORY, on a third ticket. Again here, I know that RJ can check bags onto IB, but this doesn't help me to know if SA in CPT will be able/willing to do same.

Finally, as this journey will include a total of six sectors (SA -> ET -> ET -> RJ -> RJ -> IB), I wonder if there might be a system limitation in the SAA baggage system that, irrespective of the number of tickets, would prevent through check onto this many different sectors.

Does anyone here have any ideas/experience/suggestions?

Most reservations / check-in / baggage systems these days have evolved with the technology of today and can handle most interlining, if the agent knows the code. At AMS all agents have a little book with all the tricks and can get luggage checked through onto almost any connection.

On a single ticket, I'm scheduled to fly with SA & ET on the following three flights: CPT-x/JNB-x/ADD-KRT. As these are all in one PNR, I'm certain SAA will be able to check me (and my bags) all the way through to KRT. So far, so good.

However, once in Sudan, I'm planning to continue my journey with RJ , traveling two additional sectorsKRT-x/AMM-MAD.

I already found out that ET can check bags onto RJ; however, since my initial check-in will be with SA in CPT, I wonder if they'll be able/willing to do this for me, especially since the SA/ET and RJ flights are on separate tickets.

Further complicating things, once in Spain, I'll continue with IB for one more flight to ORY, on a third ticket. Again here, I know that RJ can check bags onto IB, but this doesn't help me to know if SA in CPT will be able/willing to do same.

Finally, as this journey will include a total of six sectors (SA -> ET -> ET -> RJ -> RJ -> IB), I wonder if there might be a system limitation in the SAA baggage system that, irrespective of the number of tickets, would prevent through check onto this many different sectors.

Does anyone here have any ideas/experience/suggestions?

That is certainly stretching things, both in terms of checking luggage and getting from A to B in the most indirect way possible. Succes!

Does anyone here have any ideas/experience/suggestions?

Rules of thumb.

a) Try not to interline at airports and with airline pairs where interlining is not common, even if an interline agreement exists. Bags have a tendency to slip through the cracks if there is not a well-known process in place.

b) Try not to have more than 3 transfers on a tag as this will necessitate a second tag if using ATB standard tags.

c) If you can pick up bags without too much hassle, it is often better to pick them up and re-check at interline stations rather than trust them to the system.

d) Never check to a city where you might need a visa (that you don't already have) to exit and re-check the baggage. This will cause you (and cost you) more grief than it is worth.

How long are your layovers in Addis, Khartoum and Amman? Do you have the necessary visas for each (or are able to obtain VoA)? You might consider "breaking journey" to collect and re-check bags at any of those points in line of the above points I listed.

Good luck!

All good points, thanks.



How long are your layovers in Addis, Khartoum and Amman? Do you have the necessary visas for each (or are able to obtain VoA)?

JNB- 1:50 (no visa required)
ADD-2:55 (VoA possible)
KRT-3:45 (normally TWOV, but to be safe, I may anyway take a transit visa)
AMM-2:55 (VoA possible)
MAD-1:55 (no visa required)

All things being equal, it would seem that "breaking" the journey in KRT would be the simplest solution. However, since it's the least straightforward of all the airports I'll be visiting, if there is a way to just transit through, this would be much preferred.

That is certainly stretching things, both in terms of checking luggage and getting from A to B in the most indirect way possible. Succes!

Yes, I know, it's a bit of a milk-run. But given the insanely cheap RTW tickets now available from KRT (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/oneworld/1225920-aone4-khartoum.html), the opportunity was too good to pass up!

All things being equal, it would seem that "breaking" the journey in KRT would be the simplest solution. However, since it's the least straightforward of all the airports I'll be visiting, if there is a way to just transit through, this would be much preferred.

It's precisely because KRT is the least straightforward of your airports that I would worry about bags being lost in the interline shuffle there. You can pretty confidently expect your bags to travel smoothly CPT-JNB-ADD-KRT and again from KRT-AMM-MAD, but the interline transit across different tickets in Khartoum is a weak link in the chain.

If I was you, I'd pick up and re-check in Khartoum.

No worries about the PNR, as its revenue and award travel they have to be on separate PNRs

Phone the call centre and have them endorse each PNR as "in conjunction with" on the system, then there will be no reason not to interline the bags for you.

...3rd agent endorsed the bookings as you described above so hopefully it will all be fine now; I guess I will find out the real answer at the airport at MqpSuccess...sort of:eek: With the endorsement and note made as suggested above, the checkin lady at Mqp asked me without hardly any prompting whether I wanted my bags checked all the way to Cpt, and when I replied in the positive, she also issued the Jnb-Cpt BPs in addition to the Mqp-Jnb BPs^. The twist came when I finally arrived in Cpt to find my bag's zip and lock had been cut...fortunately nothing was stolen and I blame the 2 hours the bag was in transit in Jnb as the likely reason for this!

Success...sort of:eek: With the endorsement and note made as suggested above, the checkin lady at Mqp asked me without hardly any prompting whether I wanted my bags checked all the way to Cpt, and when I replied in the positive, she also issued the Jnb-Cpt BPs in addition to the Mqp-Jnb BPs^. The twist came when I finally arrived in Cpt to find my bag's zip and lock had been cut...fortunately nothing was stolen and I blame the 2 hours the bag was in transit in Jnb as the likely reason for this!

That's great to hear!

Have a look at Bbagzz on www.have2have.co.za I dont ever check luggage in without them.

Essentially it seals your bags with a strong plastic and gives R5000 insurance. In all my flying always ex JNB never had a bag with this on, tampered with.

I'm flying LHR-JNB on SA arriving at 7:15am and considering purchasing JNB-AUH on EY that leaves at 9:25am. They will be separate tickets, so I have a couple questions:

- I assume SA can't check my bag through to the EY flight if they're not partners?
- If I have to collect my bag, clear customs, and check in again, will 2h10mins be enough in JNB? I've never been there before.

(Yes, I know it's a round-about way of getting from LHR-AUH, but I paid for a really cheap LHR-JNB J fare a while ago, and trying to change it to go from LHR-AUH would be a lot more than just purchasing a JNB-AUH one-way.)

I'm flying LHR-JNB on SA arriving at 7:15am and considering purchasing JNB-AUH on EY that leaves at 9:25am. They will be separate tickets, so I have a couple questions:

- I assume SA can't check my bag through to the EY flight if they're not partners?
- If I have to collect my bag, clear customs, and check in again, will 2h10mins be enough in JNB? I've never been there before.


SA have just signed a code share and cooperation agreement with EY so your chances may have improved. Having the bags interlined would be ideal because although 2h10 is doable it doesn't allow much wiggle room and immigration can be a zoo in the mornings at JNB.