photoagent101

Recently I booked and flew a one-way ticket from SFO to Bimini, Bahamas. This was booked entirely on United's website and I have a United receipt/itinerary that shows clearly that baggage fees for two bags up to 70 pounds are waived.

When I arrived at my last leg of the flight, FLL to BIM, this was on Silver Airways (United flight was a code-share; Silver is a United partner), and they refused to honor what United had stated on the paperwork; and charged me $25 for the first bag and $40 for the second bag. They had a limit of 50 pounds for each bag and were going to charge me $225 per bag for being over 50 pounds, but I took some stuff from my bags at the counter and carried it on. Luckily I did not pack my bags to 70 pounds or I would have been SOL. I am Gold elite and have a Presidential Plus card, both of which entitle me to two bags free.

I've written United Customer Care, their Mileage Plus center, and their Refunds department. I've been ignored (two weeks have passed). I called my credit card company, and they refuse to allow me to dispute the charge -- their reason is that Silver Airways did accept and transport my bags, so they provided the service -- even if they wrongly charged me. The credit card company said that I should contact Silver Airways and ask them to refund me. I've done so, and I've been ignored.

Any suggestions on how to get a refund? I'd actually be fine with getting RDMs or something like that.

On the return, I bought a one-way ticket from BIM all the way back to MRY, also on United -- the itinerary shows all United flights. This time, the itinerary does show that I am to be charged $65 for bags. OK, fine. In BIM I was charged by Silver Airways that amount. No problem, I expected it.

Upon arriving at the United Premier line at FLL, the kiosk showed that I was to be charged another $65. The agent was astonishingly rude and uncaring. I kept arguing with her (knowing that once I actually paid this second, unwarranted baggage fee that I would have little chance of getting it back). I told her that this did not make sense, that I had already paid the fee in BIM, that I was United Gold elite and was thus entitled to two bags free. Finally , I pulled out my Presidential Plus card (which entitles me to two free checked bags), and she finally agreed to look into the situation (I also started recording the conversation with the agent with my phone in my pocket).

It turns out that I had FOUR flights that day -- BIM-FLL-IAH-LAX-MRY, so the agent in BIM could not check my bags all the way through to MRY. This meant that I had to get new tags in FLL to get the bags to MRY, which made the system think that I had to pay the $65 baggage fee all over again.

Now the United agent was actually friendly, since she realized that perhaps I was not an idiot. She urged me to contact United to tell them about this situation, since it seems to occur reguarly. In her words "We need YOU customers to contact management; otherwise nothing will ever get changed!" Given the above, however, I wonder if it is worth the trouble. The Silver Airways agent on my outbound also said that this was a common situation and that United needed to correct its incorrect information that it was giving to passengers.

So, if anyone from United is reading -- here's my shoutout to you as a customer, as requested by one of your employees. Or perhaps I should just give up, since no one at United seems to give a s***.

mtpa

File a DOT complaint - United is required to accurately disclose baggage fees on a ticket. At a minimum it will escalate the issue to corporate customer service which is actually empowered to fix the problem.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Did you not check your bag through all the way to BIM, or did you make a stopover in FLL? Bag fee waivers only apply at UA counters. If you were checking your bags at a Silver counter, normal bag fees apply. If you checked your bag all the way through to BIM at SFO, there should not have been a problem, and you should not have paid anything. UA states on the bag fee page that bag waivers apply only at UA counters (at a UA counter you are getting a baggage fee waiver from normal UA fees and allowances, not free bags - a subtle, but important difference, and UA's normal bag fees apply elsewhere). Why did BIM agent not tag bag all the way through to MRY?

Again, here's 2 important questions:

1) Did you have your bag checked all the way through to BIM from SFO when you checked in at SFO? If it wasn't, you have no basis for complaint. If it was, you do.

2) Why was bag not checked all the way through to MRY from BIM if it was on one UA PNR? Maybe there a limit on flights Silver can handle. Seems like this will be the easier fee to get back. Send a copy of bag fee receipt paid to Silver with concise explanation to UA Customer Service. Silver Airlines and Mileage Plus have nothing to do with the $65 charge.

photoagent101

On the outbound SFO-FLL-BIM, the agent at SFO tagged my bags to FLL. I had an overnight in FLL and brought my bags to the Silver Airways counter the next morning. So your reply answers the one question/issue. (However, why did United's itinerary/receipt cross out the $25 and $40 Silver baggage charges and show no charge? - attached).

On the way back, the agent explained to me that because I had so many legs in my return trip, the Silver agent in Bimini could not issue bag tags all the way back to SFO. One of my friends on the trip who was flying on a more direct route to Seattle did have his bags checked all the way back, starting from BIM. Still, if I show my United Gold card at the Premier lane at a United counter, shouldn't that be enough for the counter agent to say "something's wrong here if this guy is being charged $65 for two bags." In fact, even if I was not Gold, United's charge should be $60 ($25 first bag, $35 second), not $65.

photoagent101

here's the attachment if it works

PVDtoDEL

Unfortunately, it appears that you were correctly charged. Silver Airways is under no obligation to honor the bag fee waiver that UA offers.

If you look at your receipt, there is an * next to the bag fee waiver. It clearly mentions that the waiver is only in effect when you check in at a UA or UA Express counter. Silver Airways is neither UA nor is it UA Express, So the $25 and $40 fees listed are what 3M charged you.

I agree that UA should reprogram it's receipts so that it doesn't show the waiver on non-UA operated segments. However, UA did include the relevant info in the fine print, so they're probably not going to be willing to refund you.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

In the text below, it CLEARLY states the bag charge waivers only apply at UA counters. You have zero basis for claiming a refund on your FLL-BIM leg because you made a stopover and therefore normal UA bag fees and weight allowances apply at a Silver counter (ie no waiver and no recognition of Gold status).

You do have a basis for getting the $65 back from UA for the bag charge at FLL on the return. Silver's inability to check all the way through to MRY isn't your fault and not sure why UA in FLL wouldn't accommodate (incompetence?). UA's system showed that $65 was supposed to be collected at check in and since you checked in at FLL, that's what they collected. They did not see a bag check paid at Silver since it wasn't checked through. Don't dwell on what Gold should have gotten you - $65 and 50lb/bag is the correct fee and weight allowance that should have been collected ONE TIME on the way back. In communicating with UA, do not bring up what Gold "should've" gotten you. It is a red herring and will just confuse things. Concentrate on the fact that you should have paid $65 ONCE and that Silver was unable to facilitate UA's bag fee policies/procedures and hence you were charged a second time.

photoagent101

Thanks for the education.

I think that I know the answer, but my itinerary SFO-BIM is attached. It is a United itinerary, booked on the United website. I flew on 1-28-16 from SFO to FLL, then flew FLL-BIM on 1-29-16.

My question is this -- with this kind of itinerary, was it possible to ask that my bags be checked all the way from SFO to BIM? Or with a forced overnight (but on the same itinerary), is one always going to have to get his/her bags at the overnight stop and re-check the bags the next day? I would not have needed the bags for my overnight stay.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

UA's bag check system is pretty good at determining what can/can't be checked thru on a single PNR.

PVDtoDEL

typically, it's not possible to check through overnight layovers, but you might be able to talk the check-in agent into writing a manual tag if you really wanted. In my opinion, not worth it though.

Often1

This is entirely wrong. UA followed the DOT rule and it is a waste of OP's time to file a complaint and the more frivolous DOT complaints that are filed, the less attention gets paid to them. If anything, it was 3M which charged the fee wrongly (although it did not).

OP checked the bags to FLL and had an overnight. At FLL, the bags were rechecked. While the DOT rule provides that the bag allowance for the marketing carrier of the first segment applies to all segments of the same ticket, the allowance is calculated based on the allowance and not on waivers for CC's, status and the like.

Thus, 3M was not obligated to honor the bag waivers provided by UA and did not.

On the return, 3M could quite easily have checked the bag through to MRY. Four segments is easy. More than four segments is harder, and might have required some assistance from a help desk, but still doable.

Unfortunately, when you are rechecking bags on a "through" itinerary, it's not quite as easy for the system to spot the bag fee waivers. It takes manual intervention, as it did here.

Kate031

I just booked flight on Silver (booked through UA) to Exuma from FLL leaving at 12:00, and my flight to FLL doesn't get in until 11:30. Did I just screw myself? Anyone have experience with the short Silver flights to Bahamas and know how far in advance the boarding typically is? My flight to FLL is on UA also, but they are separate tickets. Looks like the same terminal (fingers crossed).

weirdlyndon

They are the same terminal, and if you're lucky it may even be a gate over from where you arrive. It's an int'l flight to the Bahamas, so check in closes 1 hour prior to departure, so you'll need to check in online and hope your flight arrives early. Then just hustle to the Silver departure gate - boarding is usually 20-25 min before departure.

Kate031

Awesome, that's the answer I was hoping for. Good call on the online check-in. Thanks!

FlyerTalkUserName

Havent seen the latest numbers but Silver is notoriously delayed so I'd check the on-time performance for the flight as well. Possible you'll have plenty of extra time.