tmac100

In late August I fly LHR to LIS on a 1-way trip. Due to my need to get 4 sectors on A3 to maintain *G, I checked LHR-ATH-SKG-ATH-LIS and that set of flights with A3 is about the same price as a direct LHR-LIS flight with someone else.

As turnaround at SKG is about 10 hours I wonder what to do with my checked bag?

a) Would SKG keep it for the duration? Flyint into/out of SKG are morning/afternoon and 10 hours apart. If not ...
b) is there left luggage at SKG? If so where and how much?

I could not find a definite answer for b). Several sites said yes there is left luggage and at least one said no.

I do not want to take my bag into town on the 78 bus and lug it with e for a few hours, so leaving it at the airport is common sense. Hence the questions ...

Thanks for any info.

KLouis

A simple solution if they don't check your luggage to LIS, connection time allowing, would be to check it to ATH, retrieve it, go upstairs and check it to LIS. Then you're free to go to Thessaloniki or anywhere else you want.

tmac100

Yes ^ Never thought about the alternative in using ATH left luggage.
Thank you FT and especially KLouis

NWIFlyer

I don't know if this will work, but I suspect you have far more experience of A3 policy and could probably shed some more light for all of us.

The reality is that this trip is, I think: outbound LHR-ATH-SKG, followed by a return SKG-ATH-LIS.

If that's the case, the ability to check luggage on the ATH-LIS sector is dependent on A3 being prepared to take it before the SKG-ATH sector has been flown. From my experience of other airlines, this is generally frowned upon and is absolutely not guaranteed to happen. Is A3 policy different?

If this really is a single set of one-way flights, then it is impossible for the luggage to be routed through the same airport twice in one trip, so I'd be surprised if it was valid.

If the ATH-SKG-ATH part is on a separate ticket, then of course the luggage could be checked at LHR through to LIS.

The OP is ultimately correct - assuming there is enough time between the various flights, the luggage could be stored, retrieved and re-checked for the final leg only, rather than being placed in the airline's baggage system. That sounds like the best back-up if the other options prove to be impossible.

tmac100

This booking has all flights in GoLite economy. The LHR-ATH-SKG is in U class with 23 kg of baggage, while the return GoLite SKG-ATH-LIS is in V class with 23 kg baggage. All have 1 extra piece because of A3 Gold.

By using an upgrade coupon on the LHR-ATH they have allowed 32 kg but only 1 bag. upgrade ATH-LIS is waiting list only.

The upgrade coupon incurred a 17 Euro tax. No matter as I want to try A3 Business class on the late flight.

Because of 1 booking reference, can I check the baggage thru from LHR straight thru to LIS? That would solve the problem of what to do with the 10-hour wait at SKG. I don't fancy lugging my baggage on the Hop-on-hop-off tour bus....

KLouis

Well, it turns out, reading the OP's next message, that you're correct. When I answered earlier I was convinced that the OP had one ticket LHR-ATH-LIS (return) and one ATH-SKG (return), which is why I wrote what I wrote. I'm afraid you're right and my "solution" will not work out.

NWIFlyer

Absolutely no chance, I'm afraid. The LHR check-in staff will only be interested in your trip of LHR-ATH-SKG. They will not be able to check to LIS because that's a return part of your itinerary, and you would be asking them to miss out the ATH-SKG-ATH legs, which isn't something the baggage system could do, legally or not.

Your best chance is to persuade them to short check to ATH, collect the bag there and see if A3 would be prepared to check your bag early for the second half of your return leg. If they won't, and they are under no obligation to do so ahead of you flying the SKG-ATH leg, you could leave it in storage at ATH and pick it up and re-check it on your return - but this does carry a risk if you have flight delays and don't have time to do so.

Air Rarotonga

It is impossible to check baggage trought an airport twice. Every airport can be printed once on the baggage slip!

A3 won't check your baggage LHR-ATH-LIS (cutting off sidetrip) as I experienced last year. Did a sidetrip ATH-HER-ATH and could only check baggage to HER and had to check it in again... The other question is, if they will short-check your baggage only to ATH, normally airlines don't do that.

Why don't you simply call the airport of SKG and ask then if there's a left luggage facility?

http://www.thessalonikiairport.com/contact/

tmac100

Thank you, Air Rarotonga. :-:

I am too chintzy to call SKG from Qatar on a reguiar telephone, so tried contacting the airport at the email provided in the URL for the airport. It bounced! So I waited until I got home, and called the airport call center on Skype. Everyone spoke English well. The fellow at left luggage said they were open from 8 am until 10 pm daily. Cost/bag is 5 Euro/day.

Woo, hoo! Thanks everyone for your patience and to Air Rarotonga for providing breakthrough info. ^ and :-:

Now I am really looking to the A3 trip because I used one of my Gold status upgrade coupons to fly the LHR-ATH sector. On the waiting list for the other long(er) sector ATH-LIS.

Palal

IIRC SKG has luggage lockers.

NWIFlyer

Only in the lounge, plus they're not checked luggage size and the OP probably wouldn't be able to leave luggage there for 10 hours having left the airport.

The paid storage is the only viable option.

murilix

Have in mind the baggage storage opened around 8h30 when I was there, maybe because it was after a national holiday...

But in this case here I believe the obvious thing was to pick up the bag in SKG go up to Departures level and check the bag to LIS right after.

I did a 4-flight run that had a 5th flight on it and had a 6-hour layover in SKG. 1st ticket: BEG-ATH-SKG; then SKG-RHO-ATH-MAD. In ATH, asked if they could check it on the flight next day to MAD, but they couldn't. So I checked the bag to SKG, and then rechecked on SKG to MAD. Some stupidly wasted fuel, but...