Originally Posted by
Often1
While it is terrible customer service, NH was justified in collecting the fee because AC did not (and with good reason). It is unusual for an onwards carrier to do this, but not unheard of.
Rather than NH, I would approach AC for the refund. Presuming that your carry-ons were :"legal" it was simply an unfortunate circumstance that there was no room for the bags. But, AC should have absorbed the additional cost and did not. While I would not hold my breath for AC to refund the excess baggage fees, it is AC which should have dealt with the issue and did not.
It seems to me that AC was at fault for checking the legal carry-ons through to the OP's final destination. Had AC merely checked the carry-ons only to YVR, the OP could have claimed them there, and then carried them on to the ANA flights. The OP should not have to pay for what seems to be an obvious error on AC's part.
That said, if time permitted, couldn't the OP have requested that AC or ANA offload the bags at YVR?