Originally Posted by
irishguy28
The problem here is that you don't have an Atlantic airways ticket.
However, given that Atlantic apparently never charge for bags, then it seems you should be in luck. What fee would they assess for someone arriving on a ticket for which there is no baggage allowance for their sector?
According to Atlantic website, it seems to be 249 DKK (about 30 Euros), which is reasonable for us, as long as we don't have to leave the secure area of CPH and pay at the boarding gate (but that entails having the KL handling agent in BRU to accept to tag the luggage until FAE in Brussels and communicate to Atlantic that we need to pay for the bag in CPH, not even sure if that's possible.
When you book a "Light" ticket with KLM, then the ticket is always issued with a 0PC baggage allowance. Below, I've included a snapshot of one of my upcoming KLM e-tickets, also booked in Light, which shows (despite my Platinum status) the inherent allowance of the ticket itself is 0 checked bags ("ruimbagage" = checked baggage). While logged in on the website with your Flying Blue status that allows you an extra bag for free, it will show this entitlement, but that doesn't change the fact that you opted for a bag with no intrinsic baggage allowance. You are reliant on the status perk to check 1 bag for free, but that applies only to KLM-operated flights.
Yeah, you're right. Off-topic, but I even have another story about how an upcoming trip I have in 3 weeks shows 0 bags at all, although ticketed and marketed by AF/KLM : KLM bus between Maastricht and AMS, then KL between AMS and CDG, then AF between CDG and YUL and finally AF bus between YUL and Quebec City. Despite all flights being operated by AF/KL, the bus trip forces the system not to provide me with 1PC :-) But I am confident I won't be facing much issues with checking a bag in AMS for this trip !
Please return and let us know. I assume that KLM will check it all the way through without any charge, and given that Atlantic apparently aren't the type of airline to ever charge for luggage, there is little chance that you will be called to the gate in CPH and asked for payment for the luggage (I fail to see what they could charge you - if they don't assess a fee themselves I can't see them trying to determine what KLM would assess, and it's hardly as if KLM will demand payment from them for them to carry your luggage on their flight), as would be the expected case with an airline that habitually charges.
I will report here for sure. I hope they can at least do this. Thanks for your feedback !
Originally Posted by
CosmicGirl
This is tangential to your question but may come in handy if you run into any issues in BRU. You can try using the most significant carrier rule (see
IATA resolution 302), which would either put it under KL's policy (marketing carrier), or if they waive it off to the operating carrier then you'll get the 1PC on that segment anyway.
As a word of warning, though...We did BRU-AMS-LHR/LGW-MCO back in late 2019 with the first two flights on KL and the long haul on VS in PE. The PE on the long haul should've given us 2PC each for the full itinerary but the staff acting on behalf of KL in BRU refused to honour that. We had 2 full suitcases and an empty one to fill up in FL, and they made us pay €60 to take an empty suitcase from BRU to LHR. They were essentially a bunch of dimwits who had never even heard of VS, let alone the joint venture. To add to the confusion all of this was ticketed and marketed by DL so under DOT Regulation 399.87 DL's policy applied, which clearly stated that the PE allowance would apply to all three legs. Even if they didn't know that then they should've applied the most signifcant carrier rule. But the staff had never heard of either of those (MSC or DOT) and threatened to close the check in until we paid. In hindsight, I should've taken an upgrade offer for the flight, which was less than the €60 and would've given us the extra allowance anyway.
Thanks for the document ! Here I guess the MSC is Atlantic airways as they operate the longest leg of this trip. But I am not sure that the AviaPartner subcontractor in BRU on a saturday early morning will be willing to hear about the IATA resolution 302 :-) Reading this document, it says that "In case of code-share flights the Marketing Carrier rule is applied unless the Marketing Carrier's published rules stipulate the use of the Operating Carrier rules.". How/Where can I tell here if KLM (the marketing carrier) is following in this case the rules of the Operating carrier (Atlantic ?)
Originally Posted by
NickB
AIUI, the most significant carrier rule applies to contractual baggage allowance, not the additional baggage allowance granted to frequent flyers and would therefore not be relevant here since the contractual allowance is nil on a light fare.
[edit]: the IATA document that you reference explicitly confirms this at the bottom of p. 8 [/edit]
Perfectly right, although I did not know this was written, I booked this light fare because I was aware that Atlantic was giving 1PC for everyone (based on their website). I would have never tempted to book a light fare if I had a PC to check in and was travelling a combination of KL and Transavia for example. (As not all fares includes hold baggage on Transavia).
Let's see what will happen tomorrow, we will make sure to arrive early enough at the airport in case things are not smooth. The fact that neither KL or RC cannot answer this question, neither how much I should pay for this bag, if I need to pay, is a bit worrying to me.