Originally Posted by
alaskamatt
Alaska's written policy allows interlining on multiple tickets as long as they have a T&B agreement.
I was aware of that policy and I confirmed Alaska's T&B agreement before I purchased my tickets.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/tr...cked-bags.aspx
"Travel that includes multiple airlines or tickets"
So reading Alaska's policy from this page.
Originally Posted by Alaska Airlines
Travel that includes multiple airlines or tickets
If your travel includes multiple tickets, and/or travel on more than one airline, your baggage fees and rules may be determined by the other airline. Please check your ticket, or call Alaska Airlines Reservations at 1-800-252-7522 to help determine which airline rules and fees apply to your journey.
When making international connections on a separate ticket to other airlines within twelve (12) hours of arriving in the connection city, you may follow the baggage allowance and weight restrictions of the international airline - provided a ticketing and baggage agreement is in place between Alaska Airlines and the other carrier.
So this confirms that the policies of the other airline
may be used to determine your baggage allowance, my reading of this section is that AS would allow you to follow the baggage allowance of the other carrier if they provide you with greater luggage allowance than what they are giving you, it is very nice from their side, however it doesn't mean it also works the other way around, i.e. that SU will accept AS policy on separate tickets.
Did you at any stage give them a call to determine your luggage allowance? Or check Aeroflot policies?
If we check Aerfolot policy -
http://www.aeroflot.com/ru-en/inform...gage/allowance
Originally Posted by Aerofolot
If for the flight route separate tickets are issued, checked baggage allowance rules for each leg shall correspond to checked baggage allowance rules indicated on the tickets.
So as per SU policy, you would have had to pay for this second bag, IATA or USDOT regulations don't really apply here.
Originally Posted by
alaskamatt
the costs would be the main reason for an interline baggage agreement.
Those same issues (sharing bag fees; excess bag fees; overweight/oversize fees; etc.) exist equally with single (multi-airline) tickets.
Under the rules, the first carrier checking the luggage collects the fees to the final tagged destination at the time the bags are checked.
The point of collection (at first point of bag check) is the same under IATA and USDOT; the main difference between the two is 'whose' fee schedule is being used to charge the passenger.
The rub comes when the first carrier grants additional concessions based on their own criteria.
With single, multi-airline ticket then IATA and USDOT regulations states which airline luggage allowance should be used, this is a relatively easy straight-forward thing to follow, especially since the airline checking you in has full access to the entire ticket and would be able to determine your luggage allowance correctly.
Originally Posted by
alaskamatt
That being said, the SOP at most airlines is that the airline verifies entry requirements against TIMATIC for as far as they're sending bags or issuing boarding passes to. AS did check for Russian documents, and SU did too.
Probably most airlines will indeed do that, but several reports here on FT are showing the contrary, where people have been denied boarding on a flight XXX-YYYY where they did not have the correct documents to enter YYY, and showing the airline that they have a separate ticket YYY-ZZZ made no difference.
Originally Posted by
alaskamatt
It appears that most replies believe the big issue is with having two tickets.
I'm not sure my experience would have been any different on one.
If you were on a single ticket, and as per the US DOT regulations it seems like you would have had no issue indeed.
The SU agent you encountered at the check-in counter in LAX was within their rights to request you to pay the excess baggage fee, and you declined and tried to make alternative arrangements with bags that are already in transit, this is almost always a source for troubles as there are just too many spinning wheels here...