Like many here, we've got a few cards that are supposed to permit a free piece of baggage when traveling on certain carriers. *

The card T&C usually state that the travel must have been booked with the card, and if its an award (from their own program) flight, that the taxes/fees are what count for that.

TYP redemption flights (from the website or travel center) are usually not broken out in costs like that, so what I have been doing is charging a $1/ticket to the appropriate card, so that I can at least point to something that shows the card was involved in the transaction. And then claim that we should get our free baggage allowance.

However I'm carefully looking at the TYP travel confirmations, and what seems to happen when a Points redemption + sliver of Cash is made, is that the travel center books the ticket, and issues the confirm, with THEIR merchant MasterCard account number attached. NOT the travelers card number. I also queried an agent on that, and she confirmed that. She said "that's just the way their system did it."

So after all that effort to book like that, and keeping those theoretical 'baggage fee waiving' cards, I'm not really sure they will actually work in practice. I guess it will depend on what the check-in agent or skycap does, and how they feel that day. If it ends up not working, which is what I fear/suspect, that's a big negative for paying for mid level airline cards (for us) and/or using TYP for things where we know we'll need to check baggage.

Does anyone have positive/negative experiences with the set of circumstances I describe? If travelers are getting hosed, knowing ahead of time, can help minimize the damage. I really do not think this is the intent of the co-branded travel cards, but their T&C seem to lead to this interpretation (and potential outcome). How are normal travel agencies dealing with this? or is this some freakish quirk of the CWT/Connexions system?

* As a practical matter, when redeeming FF miles, and getting put on partner operated flights, its been depressing how rarely we actually get a fee waiver, since we're never able to fly on the main (card issuing) carrier.