SkyTeam - Oh Thank-You SkyTeam....

I'm a PE. PE namely because of international travel and that is usually a mix of DL, NW, AF, KLM. Fly CO a few times a year.

At first I was upset about CO leaving giving some of the south american work I do, but the last few CO flights have left me waiting till they leave. Attitudes....

But that's not the purpose of this post.

Last set of flights was on CO. Guess what? I (as a PE) had to pay the baggage fee! Yup. $20 because I was the good little traveler that always checks their bag instead of the 'normal' people that try and stuff their house in the overheads and hold flights up for 20 minutes each end (I think they should charge for carry-ons too if it is about fuel. Obviously it's about labor though..).

So, after getting a little peeved at agents and emailing CO customer support, I'm told 'tough'. DL and NW started charging CO PE for baggage so we changed our policy to be the same. Now, first of all, DL and NW should be ashamed for doing this to begin with. Live by the agreement until the end. Secondly, CO should be ashamed for not seeing an opportunity to flaunt in DL NW face "they are charging our PE but we aren't charging theirs, see, we take better care of our customers". All this talk about 'customers first' is a joke. They are being childish and putting us, those who pay, in the middle of spat that my 4 yo daughter wouldn't even do!

They want to cultivate loyalty? HA!

Welcome to FlyerTalk!!

There is no baggage benefit as part of the SkyTeam agreement. That means that you pay within the USA. And, yes, DL started it. Was it classy for CO to "blame" DL? Maybe not, but you asked why and they actually told you the truth. There is something to be said for that.

Oh, and SkyTeam has nothing to do with loyalty and very little to do with anything other than a few joint marketing efforts. It is, by far, the loosest of the three alliances in terms of coordinated benefits and operations.

but the last few CO flights have left me waiting till they leave. Attitudes....

Yup, FAs who roll their eyes at customers, close curtains after meals are served so they can feast on the meals leftover from F/BE and never come out again until landing, blatantly discriminate against minorities (tons of threads on CO forum), and the list goes on.

There's Continental for ya. I flew my last flight on CO ever last month and will never return. I donated all of my e-certs, giftcards, and miles to charity. Buh bye.

There is no baggage benefit as part of the SkyTeam agreement.

There is priority tagging for Elite Plus customers (which, as with other airlines, doesn't always work).

SkyTeam has nothing to do with loyalty and very little to do with anything other than a few joint marketing efforts. It is, by far, the loosest of the three alliances in terms of coordinated benefits and operations.

I think you're exaggerating here. There are OW carriers that don't even give you your elite bonus when flying on other carriers within their alliance, and they have the silly requirement for minimum-segments-at-eligible-fares-on-own-metal. Star Alliance is far more complex, but it also seems like some of its airlines (e.g. SQ) aren't that well-integrated, and service standards on some (e.g. US, MS, soon-to-be-member AI) are (or at least are reputed to be- I've never flown them) unacceptably low.

With Skyteam, you know you're generally getting your elite perks without much fuss (or at least the vast majority of incidents of confusion/denial is a result of poor training as opposed to alliance-unfriendly, penny-pinching policies), and a decent minimum standard of quality/reliability in terms of service.

There is priority tagging for Elite Plus customers (which, as with other airlines, doesn't always work).
Indeed. I should have stated "no free baggage benefit" system wide.

With Skyteam, you know you're generally getting your elite perks without much fuss (or at least the vast majority of incidents of confusion/denial is a result of poor training as opposed to alliance-unfriendly, penny-pinching policies), and a decent minimum standard of quality/reliability in terms of service.
Every alliance has its lower quality carriers and its premium ones. I don't think it is reasonable to pick on EgyptAir and not China Southern, for example. But things like free checked baggage are one of the core elite benefits. And that is one that ST does not provide. *A does. OW doesn't state it as a benefit; I have no idea what enforcement is like.

As for the difference between bad policy and poor training, I think that the two are somewhat intertwined. When the policies get so confusing it is hard to have agents well trained. And the ST carriers are - in my experience - less consistent across the board about policies. That creates confusion. Add to it that the ST "system" doesn't seem particularly interested in solving that problem any you end up with the somewhat disjointed experience that is SkyTeam.

I found it's depends on who checks you in ... so far I have yet to pay. Once CO in *A this won't be a problem anymore as other pointed out.

Every alliance has its lower quality carriers and its premium ones. I don't think it is reasonable to pick on EgyptAir and not China Southern, for example.

I've flown CZ both longhaul and shorthaul, and they're fine. Their lounge offering at CAN is pedestrian, but they kept it open till midnight because one flight (mine, of course!) had a 1.5 hour delay. Their shorthaul C is better than what's offered by KLM or BA, and the longhauls have lie-flat seats. There must be a reason they're Asia's biggest carrier.

OTOH, I've heard some real horror stories about Egyptair who, even at the most basic level of C-product comparison, have cradle seats and no alcohol.

But things like free checked baggage are one of the core elite benefits. And that is one that ST does not provide. *A does. OW doesn't state it as a benefit; I have no idea what enforcement is like.in OW, it varies from one carrier to another. AA extends the benefit of extra-allowances for its own elites to other OW elites. BA and QF do not.

Last set of flights was on CO. Guess what? I (as a PE) had to pay the baggage fee! Yup. $20 because I was the good little traveler that always checks their bag instead of the 'normal' people that try and stuff their house in the overheads and hold flights up for 20 minutes each end

I too was caught unawares by CO charging NW elites a baggage fee. But the only bright spot in this otherwise painful transaction was although the ticket agent quoted me a price of $20, the ticket counter terminal in front of me let me pay with a credit card for $15. So I saved $5, big whoop. It still was quite a rude shock. Guess I should have been paying more attention to FlyerTalk back in Feb when this discussion arose.