Originally Posted by
RSSRNotInIndia
Reminds me of those calls I take in which passengers complain 'yes, I'm traveling on two separate tickets, but UA has an interline agreement with BA and its flight was late so you MUST protect me.' Wrong. For liability reasons, agents are discouraged (although it's obviously rarely enforced) from doing this. Should something happen, UA doesn't want to squabble with CO or have CO 'return the favor' in the future.
That doesn't me all agents follow the rules. But some do.
There are two
entirely different issues.
One is the
passenger - if traveling on two different tickets, if the first flight is late causing a misconnection, the second carrier has no obligation towards the passenger. Actually, even if the two tickets are on the same airline, the passenger has no rights if she loses the second flight due to the first being delayed (of course, if it's on the same airline chances are they would be accommodated out of goodwill).
The second issue, and the only one we have been discussing in this thread, is
baggage. Many carriers do allow checking baggage through to a different ticket provided an interline agreement exists; as of today, United appears to be in this category. I'm not sure about the details of liability in case the luggage is delayed or lost, but for sure this is clearly spelled out in the interlining agreements or broader regulations.