Xandrios

I'm flying to South America early August and unfortunately there is no direct or connecting flights available (In C). I've considered connecting on two tickets (KL/Copa) in PTY but that may require to re-check bags, and going landside in PTY requires a 3 day mandatory quarantine. Maybe I can convince them that I don't need to do that...but I'm not looking for that extra stress.

So I ended up with Air Europa as that is the only European carrier having a flight there. Air Europa doesn't play nice with AFKL in terms of combining flights on a single ticket, so I'll be flying to/from MAD with AFKL on a different ticket. Spain is fully open to anyone with a EU covid cert so theoretically that should be fine.

It would be nicer if I would be able to check the bags through though. Looking on EF it seems they don't interline with KL at all, but they do seem to interline with AF. I know that does not mean that they will actually check the bags through (KL to MAD onto UX, or UX to MAD and onto AF) but theoretically they could. All flights in business (D/C for UX and O for KL/AF). Does anybody have any experience of them actually allowing to check through between UX, AF and optionally KL?

Results from https://www.ExpertFlyer.com

Goldorak

They do interline with KL as well (you can see it in your EF list). But as you said, interlining is not enough to check bags through on separate tickets. AF may want to do it but that's not sure, especially now that UX is half in bed with Skyteam and half in bed with BA/IB. So you have to plan as if they will refuse, i.e. have a long "connection" in MAD to go landside. Schedule at least 3 hrs for the stop.

Xandrios

Thanks. Since KL is not listed under 'MAY CHECK BAGGAGE TO' I was under the impression that they would not be able to. But it would be weird if they are able to sell each other's flights on their tickets, but, not interline luggage..

I have 4-5 hrs in MAD each way, all flights arrive/depart from terminal 1. So I believe it should be fine either way, but it would of course be nice if they can just check through.

I was surprised to see that, even flying in from latam, theoretically I should be able to enter Spain with only the EU vaccination certificate. It's surprising because coming into NL from specifically that part of the world requires a mandatory Quarantine even if vaccinated. I have not yet decided if I'll try skipping the pcr on the way back. Theoretically it looks like I could skip it.. But I don't know if practically that will be the case.

HalconBCN

Any WHO-approved vaccine will work for Spain however if you are coming from Brazil keep in mind you cannot fly airside to Spain unless you are Spanish resident (although on my last flight from Brazil to Spain this was not checked).
About UX, the airline is anything but consistent. They may agree to interline having you sign a waiver that you cannot claim if the bag goes missing.

brunos

It is unclear what your desired itinerary is. Is it AMS-PTY?

In any case, why don't you simply buy a ticket on UX (from CDG or AMS). They will sell it on a single ticket (sometimes on codeshare AF/KL). But they don't fly daily, so you have to be careful in picking dates.

fifty_two

So as brunos said , you will be better booking the entire trip under one booking . UX and AFKL have codeshares between MAD and AMS , and many other routes , so you can give a try from UX or KL and see which one is more suitable

One option , if you cant book it by yourself from internet , might be to book the journey through a travel agency and include a paid luggage , so it will trigger the interlining

Can you can give us your origin/destination airports ?? Maybe we can help to prepare something good

for some airports in central america , KL is doing codeshare with with CM from PTY , in such case it will be under one booking , you will earn miles (not sure for xp) and your luggage will follow you automatically until your final destination (unless required by laws of countries you transit through)

Xandrios

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the help.
Thankfully I won't be flying via Brazil as most countries in South America have also banned Brazil flights, or require quarantine.

Appreciate your and everyone help on this. Unfortunately my client doesn't allow me disclosing the exact location publicly, but in any case, I believe that I have looked at this from any possible way. Desired itinerary would be ATH-AMS AMS-XYZ XYZ-ATH which has now been booked on two separate tickets (AFKL and UX).

ATH-AMS (KL)
AMS-MAD (KL) MAD-XYZ (UX)
XYZ-MAD (UX) and MAD-ATH (AF)

Unfortunately UX doesn't fly to ATH, and doesn't codeshare with AFKL (at all it seems) so AMS-MAD-XYZ XYZ-MAD-ATH on UX is not bookable on a single ticket. At least not without including out-of-alliance flights which kicks the fare for everything to full J.

As far as I am aware, and what I have been able to find, is that KL and UX do not codeshare on any of their flights. At least not any more (They used to be partners but seem to be frenemies now). I'd much rather have everything on one ticket as well, but the dependency on the UX flights makes that impossible due to the fact that I need a week stopover in AMS first.

Corporate TA which has confirmed that any kind of official interlining on luggage is not possible. So I'm left to the goodwill of the check in agent, if at all possible (Since UX and KL do not seem to interline luggage according to Expertflyer).

This was one of the first options I looked at, having flown CM combined with KL in the past. However in this case there is no KL codeshare on the CM flights, and, the TA is unable to combine CM flights on the KL ticket (they verified with KLM, but this was not possible).

In any case, the flights have been booked and I do have enough time to self-connect at MAD (4-5hrs). But if AFKL/UX agents do have the ability to interline luggage I was wondering if there are any recent experiences requesting that across separate tickets.

fifty_two

ok now everything is clear , no need to disclose such private details if you are a public figure , with some brainstorming and extrapolation its already easy to guess where you will be flying

So your only options are

- give yourself enough time between KL and UX flights to recheck your luggages , in case agent say no for interlining
- ask nicely for interlining at check-in with your best smile and sweetest voice
- prepare also your luggages in case of huge delay , so you might take them as hand luggages

AFKL and UX are still doing codeshares, take a look before your next skyteam flights , you might see UX code displayed on some AFKL flights (and the opposite) on the screens at boarding or on advanced FIDS , if yes then its a codeshared flight

see example below

Xandrios

I'm not a public figure, but anyway, that's not the point. The codeshare example you refer to only works in the winter schedule, currently during summertime UX doesn't codeshare on AMS-MAD. This is what AMS airport lists as codeshares:



So you are right, UX does seem to codeshare with KLM on some flights, but unfortunately not on the routes where I need them to (ATH-AMS and CDG-ATH).

fifty_two

the example i uploaded was just a screenshot i did cause i am planning trips with UX in this period , and i was working on it today , but if you check other dates in summer , it will be the same (if codeshares exists)




Oh yeah , thats what iam talking about , however not all flights on the same route are under codeshare , another way to find more details about this topic is with 3rd party services such as FlightStats , or read the news from routesonline

Yes , its something decided during negociations about such matter between airlines , usually you see a lot of them on feeder flights , for instance between airline's hubs , some agreements are wide , while some are very narrow .. If nothing about ATH , then it probably means UX management decided it wasnt worth the investment to try catching traffic from there

Xandrios

Well that was an interesting experience. Checked in for the UX flight from MAD and brought the BP to AMS when dropping my luggage for the flight to MAD.

To my surprise she was willing to interline and I got the sticker that said both MAD and my final destination (the UX flight).

After arriving at MAD went to the transfer desk and was rather rudely told that this is KLMs responsibility and that they could not tell me if the transfer from klm to UX was successful.

Decided to ask again while boarding the UX flight... And was told that the luggage has not been loaded for some unknown reason.

Took a whole lot of convincing and running around to get the bag found & brought over. It was the first bag out so I'm pretty sure it was loaded absolutely last.

Kuddos to UX for getting it sorted last minute (during boarding).. But the checking through definitely did not work. Even though the luggage tag showed the final destination.

Goldorak

In my long experience of flying and checking bags through on separate tickets : when this involves 2 different airlines, it is always advisable to stop at a counter of the 2nd airline at the connection point to inform them that you have a connecting bag and give them the bag receipt so that they can check in their system if everything is OK and, most of the time, they have to do something (e.g. entering your bag tag number in your 2nd PNR). This can be done at the gate, at an information desk, transfer desk, whatever. If you don't do that, there is a high chance that your bag will not be loaded in the connecting flight.

Xandrios

Exactly, and I did specifically that. Or tried to. Passport, two boarding passes and the luggage stub/sticker in hand. The UX transfer desk wasn't able (or willing) to check.

This was in business class, having Elite+ status and Skypriority/VIP printed on these BP's. Enough for KLM to try to do the interlining...but not enough for UX to try to lookup the flight/luggage details at the transfer desk

irishguy28

It's always best to go straight to the gate and talk to the gate agent ASAP. I'm surprised that you got such a curt response at the transit desk, but the gate agents are the people to talk to when there's an unexpected bag in transit!!!

Enjoy your trip in your undisclosed location!

Xandrios

Thanks. However the gate is only staffed 45-30 min before departure, so by default you will have only a small window of time to get things sorted/fixed that way. Anyway it worked out in the end.

On the way back I decided to just check the luggage till MAD. Upon arrival went through passport and COVID control (took about 30 min), at which time the bags just started to come out. Took it straight upstairs and was able to check it in for the next AF flight about 4 hrs later (luckily the check-in desk was staffed).

UX didn't disappoint. Maybe due to all the negative reviews I had read prior to travel, I actually found them quite pleasant and better than expected. Friendly and attentive crews, food was a little rustic but tasty (Meat, fish and vegan options), aircraft (787) was clean and flights on time. Also they offered an amenity kit and code for a few MBytes of internet. Only downside is the 2-2-2 config on the dreamliner which is a pity. On the way back I moved to have both seats for myself and found that this makes things a lot more comfortable. Though obviously the flight needs to have empty rows in order to be able to do that.