Originally Posted by
AirbusA350
Yes BA’s limits apply for the main ticketed luggage allowance I agree, but isn’t how much extra baggage allowance is permitted via status as well as hand baggage allowance based on operating carrier’s policies, in which case it’ll be AA’s status policies here?
As a general point, when flying across airlines, then yes, the operating airline counts, and the 32 kgs limit is an awkward one since BA (and IB) handle it in a non straightforward way - the standard limit is 23 kgs but there is no charge for 32 kgs if Silver/Gold. AA is a bit more straightforward, it's a limit of 32 kgs for Emeralds / Business / etc. However BA codeshares, unlike some other codershares arrangements within other airlines, are a bit different in that broadly speaking on BA marketed fares,BA hard allowances applies to things like baggage. Soft benefits such as lounge access are
oneworld standard, on the whole, there are a few wrinkles over things like fast track security, though of course that won't be a problem at LHR T5. At Emerald level it's less obvious an issue, since AA and BA aligns better, but we see this more on things like Aer Lingus and sometimes Qatar, where the gap from the operator's limits and BA's limits can be enormous.
The fact that
Bingy's MMB changed slowly to show 32 kgs was revealing: it took a while for a TA booking to be updated with his super Silver status. The robots first set up the number of pieces, two here, then attributes to the booking the usual weight limiit, 23 kgs. Then comes the frequent flyer number, that gets validated, and eventually the robot says 32 kgs. So it follows the process that one would expect given the booking channnel, for BA.com you would normally be in the Silver part of the portal when you make the booking, so this logic is washed over too quickly to spot.
I agree it is a confusing area, but happily
Bingy doesn't have to rely on the say-so of
CWS, he now has a piece of virtual paper which confirms 32 kgs, the agent will see something similar (particularly if he checks in at T5) and so there will be no issue. He always prints everything out anyway, from my recollection.. Goodness knows why people would need to take the kitchen sink to the USA, they do have them over there. For the onward service to Appleton, Wisconsin, he would still get the 32 kgs for a number of reasons, but the biggest is that this limit would be already in the system from the trans Atlantic sector.