Originally Posted by OpenSky

This may or may not apply to you, but SU will not same line or interline bags - FAIR WARNING, if you are planning on checking bags on separate tickets

Basically my ticket was JFK-SVO ( ticket 1)
Ticket 2 ( purchased separately) was SVO-XXX ( XXX being a destination outside the Russian Federation)
Both tickets on SU stock, SU operated, SU flight numbers. My plans changed so I needed up buying two separate tickets.

I asked the person who checked me in at JFK to check the bags all the way, and was given a flat NO. Any decent airline worth its salt will be able to do this. Any. I routinely do this on KLM,AF,LH,EK,EY, countless.

I got into a bit of a tussle with he station manager at JFK. Despite pleading, SU won't interline bags ( or even sameline for that matter) checked baggage on two separate tickets. I complained to the US regional manager, who then told me the real reason is some stupid RU customs rule ( part of me believes him), but part of me think the real reason is the staff JFK don't know how to do it on Sabre so they basically said it can't be done, and no one wants to do anything out of the ordinary.

Since I had a valid russian visa on my passport, I was asked to pick up the baggage at SVO-D and walk all the way to SVO-E before the check in cut off. ( though I was told an exception would be made if I did not have a Russian visa)

Imbeciles. I only had basically 45 minutes to do the maneuver. So if you're planning to connect in SVO, take this into account.

I am Elite plus with SU, with a long history of flying the airline, since 2009. They did me no favours!