Originally Posted by MilesMaxamillion
However, I had come to BKK intending to check 3 pieces of baggage through to SFO (which is fine as a 1P, of course). But! JAL check-in wouldn't jive with that, so I ended up carrying the smallest of the 3 myself. Books & documents = not so light.
My intention is not to garner sympathy, as all's well that ends well for that journey, but I'm just curious if others on cancelled flights have been able to carry their UA status over for such privileges as checking 3 pieces of baggage on non-star alliance airlines, in spite of being re-routed as a result of a UA cancellation.
Judging from my experience this depends very much on the situation, the location and (if available) the UA staff at the airport.
In general I do recommend not to pay in advance for a third piece of luggage and hoping to get reimbursed later on. AFAIK the T/C of UA do not guarantee a reimbursement, it's more a question of goodwill. And the goodwill depends heavily on status ... I wouldn't count on it as a 1P.
If such a situation as described above occurs it can be very helpful to talk to a UA GA and explain the situation - the GA can then clarify with the supervisors and give you the O.K. In good times (which means: only few people standing around the gate) they might even talk to the "replacement carrier" directly so you don't get any problems. Happened to me twice in 2006 - at the end I could carry over my 1k privileges.
I'm very interested to know what'll happen with such cases in the future - now that I've become a mighty GS.
Maybe my personal escort will even carry the bags over to JAL.
