Koru - Extra Bag Entitlement Question
 

Hi Guys,

I'm a Koru member - I have a Y flight from ICN - AKL via TPE. The ICN - TPE is operated by OZ and the TPE - AKL is operated by Air New Zealand.

I understand when I check-in at ICN, I won't be entitled to the Koru benefit of 2 bags so I would need to pay for the 2nd bag at the OZ counter. I'm assuming OZ would check my bags through to AKL as it's on one PNR and it's only a connecting flight. I'm fine with paying but then would OZ charge me excess baggage fee for the whole ICN - AKL (more expensive) or only ICN to TPE... as on my 2nd Air NZ flight (TPE - AKL), the 2nd bag would be counted as free as per my Koru club benefit...

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Cheers,

Hi flyer94, welcome to FT!

I did a similar ICN-HND-AKL oneway trip in Jan last year. The difference was that I hold star alliance Gold status with THAI, so the extra bag was 'a given'. Koru Club is much less useful for an overseas based flyer, unless frequenting Air NZ flights.

Is this on an Air NZ ticket? What would the difference in cost actually be? That might be useful info to know for others giving advice.

1. Certainly OZ will check your bags through to AKL, that is the important part.

2. The second part of your question is less clear. OZ staff at ICN have been quite inflexible in my 4 years living in Seoul, requiring supervisor intervention (Son's NZ-issued ticket with departure ICN on CX as and NZ codeshare, so a fight over 23 kg (NZ) vs 20 kg (CX) checked luggage....back in 2014).

I'd recommend contacting Air NZ, perhaps asking them to generate a letter or email asking OZ to waive the fee, or to charge only for ICN-TPE? You could try and bluff your way through but if that fails.....

A messy alternative is to ask to check the bag only to TPE, then enter the country, collect your bag, and re-check-in. This assumes you have time for this, and could be bothered (I wouldn't....).

Hi Thai-Kiwi!

Thanks for your reply! Much appreciated.

I booked this via Expedia as one ticket - how would I find out if this is an Air NZ ticket?
The difference in price is USD$50 - still a hefty amount of money for me.

I could try to bluff but I doubt OZ staff at ICN would even know anything about the Koru program - I'll just try to email Air NZ and see what they have to say - maybe they will send me a letter of some sort.

Yeah - I only have a 2.5hour layover and really CBF doing all the check-in procedures again. On another note, I will have access to the partner lounge at TPE right as a Koru member? I hope my boarding pass I receive at ICN states I'm a Koru so I have no issues getting in at TPE.....

Thanks,

NZ ticket numbers start with 086.

For Koru access do you need to be on NZ ticket stock?

From Air New Zealand's website:
So if you are on NZ ticket for TPE-AKL, you'll have access to EVA The Club in TPE.

I just checked and my whole ticket/itinerary number starts with 086. For the TPE - AKL flight, I'm pretty sure it's marketed and operated by Air NZ so I should have no trouble accessing the EVA lounge at TPE hopefully...

Still don't know what's going to happen re the baggage issue....

The prominent "Asiana Airlines baggage allowance applies" warning is probably conclusive too.

I had a similar query around Chicago to Wellington. Was last year before direct flight. Was booked and ticketed via Air NZ. The Koru allowance and baggage explanations on the website was very confusing to the point of being contradictory so I called up and asked for clarification. I was told the United airlines leg would allow it. That I now know is wrong, they will not allow it, and added to this they charge the bag checked through the entire way, even though I would be flying NZ metal for the bulk of the trip, this is standard practice according to some statue, that generally is advantageous to passengers, but in this case for me was not.

They also made me remove items to get under the 50lbs limit. I was surprised I was even at that limit as I had measured carefully up to 23kg as per my ticket. 50lbs is 22.67kg, and yes she was that pedantic. Got the money back in airpoint dollars from Air NZ once I reiterated I wanted a copy of the taped conversation I had with their rep. Moral of the story, website is (or was) confusing, but no Koru gives you no entitlement :/

Damn... I might have to just fork it out. As I'm Korean, maybe my Korean could help explain the situation more to the OZ Korean check-in agents. I'll report back anyway once I'm back from the trip and let you guys know.