flymonthly

Mrs flymonthly and I just got finished with a YUL-ORD-SLC-PDX trip on UA/DL. YUL-ORD-SLC was on UA and SLC-PDX on a separate DL tix. The UA TA at YUL refused to interline our bags to the DL flight, saying it could only be done if the flight was on the same tix or if the other tix was a UA (or maybe *A) flight. We spent a few minutes discussing the matter as I kept telling her that I had done so before (true) so why couldn't it be done on this trip? She seemed to indicate that there wasn't a way to do it in the UA system. A supervisor was unavailable, so I gave up pushing it since she was obviously not going to accommodate us.

Having a little extra time, I went over to the DL check-in at YUL to find out what DL would have done if the situation was reversed. The DL TA said that it would have been no problem as long as I had the ticket info for the connecting flight (which I did). He went so far as to walk over to the UA counter to see what the problem was. He came back a little irritated with UA saying that they told him they were no longer allowed to interline bags if not on the same ticket. He said he would initiate some sort of dispute resolution action with the UA supervisor, but that we were SOL on this trip.

Can anyone shed some light on this? I did a brief search on FT and the UA web site, but didn't see anything that indicated a change in policy. Is this worth contacting UA, and if so, should it be email or call? I don't need any compensation, but would like to have my bags checked through the next time (if there is one).