Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
Exactly. For immigration and customs purposes, as well as for money, Hong Kong is treated like a separate country.
It's a bit like arriving in the USA. Even if the bag is checked through to your final destination, you must still walk it through customs before handing it back to the airline, even if it is already tagged to your final destination.
However, here's the confusion.
Case of US:
Any country - US - Domestic (e.g. NRT-ORD-PHL), claim and re-check at ORD.
Any country - US - International (e.g. NRT-JFK-GIG), *still claim and re-check at JFK.
Case of PEK:
Any country - PEK - Domestic(e.g. AMS-PEK-CAN), claim and re-check at PEK.
Any country - PEK - International, at least HKG, no claim or re-check.
I guess the last one was what confused my gf. I don't think the FAs in DL189 told her to re-check the bags at all either, so I think it's not entirely her fault.
This is also why I am bringing up the question to see whether it's CZ's fault because they are responsible for updating the information of where the bags go as well.