I checked in at Birmingham yesterday to fly BHX - FRA - ICN - TSN, the first leg on LH the next two on OZ. I have a 23 hour layover in Seoul with this itinerary.

I wanted to check my luggage in all the way to Tianjin, and the check in lady asked me where I would be staying in Seoul. I told her in a hotel downtown, but she replied that if I wanted to check my luggage all the way through to Seoul I couldn't leave the airport and would have to stay in the transit hotel.

When I asked her if this was a new rule she told me that it was always like this. When I told her that it was the first I'd heard of it in 20 years of business travel, and that it didn't tie in with both Asiana and Korean Air using non airport hotels for transit passengers, she relented and checked my luggage through to Tianjin.

Was she completely wrong, or am I wrong?