DH and I booked an AA FF ticket (on Hawaiian, as a partner award) from Osaka to Seattle, with a 24 day stopover in HNL. (25K miles is an amazing deal!) The tickets were booked in July. We flew from Osaka on 11/13 and were not charged any baggage fees. (The free allowance is 2 bags PP). I read through Hawaiian's baggage rules (internet only; I haven't checked the contract of carriage) and it sure looked like the same 2 free bag rule woud apply. However, when I checked in for the flight this afternoon, I found out that we had no free baggage allowance, meaning that we would have to pay $25 for the first and $35 for the second bag. For 4 bags, that's a pretty hefty $120 charge.

According to my AA e-ticket on baggage info, it says:

"Baggage charge for your itinerary will be governed by Hawaiian Airlines.

BAG ALLOWANCE KIXSEA - 02P/HA

1st CHECKED BAG FEE - KIXSEA - JPY0/HA

2nd CHECKED BAG FEE - KIXSEA- JPY0/HA

ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCES AND/OR DISCOUNTS MAY APPLY."

I also checked the Hawaiian website on baggage charges, which has this language:

"INTERNATIONAL CHECK-IN LUGGAGE

International baggage rules will apply for entire trip, including domestic segments regardless of stopover, providing the itinerary includes at least one ticketed international point. First international marketing carrier rules apply to any itinerary with an international segment."

Checking the Hawaiian Air Interational to/from North America charts, we have:

To North America, from Japan - 1st, 2nd - no charge.


So what is the justification for charging baggage fees on the HNL-SEA flight?? I already spoke to a telephone agent and was told that the stopover disqualified me from the free baggage allowance on the HNL-SEA leg. But she didn't seem to be very knowledgeble. After I asked for a supervisor,she claimed a supervisor was not currently available and all I could do was wait. I didn't want to burn up more cell phone minutes, so I hung up after waiting another 10 minutes.