Originally Posted by Empress
Quite possible; AC flights in SYD are handled by UA agents (only the concierges are employed by AC). I've gotten both friendly and not friendly agents at SYD, so I would say it all comes down to her luck that day. As long as she is ready to pay (since she has to bring the extra suitcase home anyways). Just don't let the fact that she gets charged for the extra piece ruin her trip as technically they are supposed to charge for it.
Don't forget the Duty Managers as well as the Manager are 100% AC as well as the Concierges. Lovely group of ladies AC has at SYD airport.
To confirm one thing Shareholder mentioned earlier in the thread, they
will be strict on AC34 when it goes nonstop, going by what one of them said to me last week.
The UA staffers doing the physical check-in sometimes forget they are handling another carrier and revert to UA rules/policy at times, so a blind eye to the third piece is quite possible, providing it's not an obviously large &/or heavy one.
Having said that, they (UA) are not a happy little group here at the moment and anything is now possible. The airport staff have been unhappy for some time and now UA have announced cuts to their Oz logistics & staff last week which has caused more concerns amongst them all.
Worst case scenario, they will charge the AUD210.00 excess unit.
If you don't want to run the risk (and make it easier for your wife at the same time), there are 2 companies here that specialise in forwarding unaccompanied baggage. One is Luggage Link and the name of the other escapes me. For a fee that is a lot less than the excess charge and a lot less than a cargo charge, they will send unaccompanied baggage to a destination for you.