Baggage fees when connecting from other carrier
 

I am flying from LAS-LAX on US-Airways then connecting on to Alaska to SJD. As far as I know do both carriers have an interline agreement. But what does happen to the baggage charge when I already check my baggage through with US?

Thx for the help

If you have two tickets (ie: it was cheaper or similar, so you booked two r/ts and the two airlines do not know about you+each other), then you have to reclaim and recheck your bag(s) at the "connecting" city. You'd pay baggage charges at each checkin in this case, since each leg is on a new ticket.

If it is all on one ticket, then they should move the bags for you. Whomever you actually fly first gets all your baggage fees (if any), each way.

Not necessarily. OP can ask US to check the bag through by showing the agent their onward ticket. So long as there's interline agreement, it can be done.

Yes, ucc is correct. You need to present your onward itinerary to US Airways in LAS. Then, as long as they do indeed have an interline agreement (almost certainly), they should be able to check your bags through. If the agent doesn't know how, and it is important to you (i.e. not a lot of time in the connection and/or going to save on baggage fees), then ask for a supervisor (some agents don't know, so they say not possible).

You will be charged the baggage fees of the first airline only, IME.

One thing to note - having your reservation as one reservation or 2 separate reservations sometimes makes no difference in these cases. With tickets booked through 3rd parties with change of airlines, sometimes the first airline doesn't see the connection in your reservation, thus you are always best having the flight information to give them.

Correct, ANC RED-EYE! Unless the airlines are on the same reservations system or the ticket was issued on the first airline's stock, they will generally not be able to see the connection if booked through a 3rd party (e.g. expedia, travelocity, etc.)

So, always bring your complete itinerary and find an "experienced"-looking agent -- white/gray hair counts in these cases! :D

You guys are great. Thank you very much for these quick responses. US allows me three bags for free per person, therefore I will not have to pay for the baggage. Otherwise I would have tried to get an check in upgrade with AS to get my bags free. (2 people, 4 bags, 1 for me 3 for my girlfriend as usual)

Thx again

???? I fly on mixed airline itineraries 10-12/yr and unless its a paper ticket every airline involved has always been able to see my entire itinerary.

As far as separate reservations versus single tickets. My experience has been that there is no problem getting your bags checked through on separate reservations, but as soon as things go wrong you're SOL with separate reservations, both in terms of missed connections and missing luggage. Unless I absolutely need to fly two carriers without interline agreements I always fly on one reservation.

That sounds a bit scary. You might want to give an example? I was initially booked on LAS-LAX-SJD all the way with United, however they recently quit the LAX-SJD leg, therefore I had to rebook my ticket. US-Airways know takes the United slot from LAS-LAX and AS has taken over the slot from LAX to SJD. Take off times for all legs stayed the same only carriers changed. Thats how I got this combination.

I have a 3 hour layover in LAX, therefore I actually could check in again, but I do not want to move through the airport with all the bags, second I would have to pay the baggage fee.

Did you rebook this yourself as two seperate tickets? Or did UA do this for you, or did you book it as one ticket through an online travel agent? As long as its one ticket you will be protected. US and AS have interline agrements so you can check your bag all the way through. If you're on one ticket no need to recheck and if your US flight is deleyed enough to miss your connection you will be rebooked by US.

The situation is somewhat more complicated. The original itinary booked was Las-Lax-Sjd-Lax all on United. They then cancelled their LAX-SJD segment and their Las-Lax segment. However they rebooked me on the Us airways flight. This was not possible for the Lax-Sjd segment since they do not have an agreement with AS. Therefore they gave as the partial value of the segment 800 dollar per person. We then had to book ourselves on AS. So its two tickets. I am not worried about a delay , 3 hours should be enough, but what happens if our luggage does not arrive?

Thx

From what I've heard, if your luggage is checked through using an interline agreement, it is the responsible of the destination airline to get your luggage to you.

You have nothing to worry about.

That sounds good thanks

That’s right, but I'm confused as to why UA did not just book the AS segment for you as one ticket. I have had UA book me on AS flights a couple of times due to canceled flights. Probably just an inexperienced or lazy agent...

This might be true, but on the other hand I have safed a lot of money this way.

remember though, that you don't get free bags on AS, so you'll need to pay on your return trip, since you are checking in with them.

But really, as several other people have stated, getting your bag checked all the way through is not an issue. Just make sure you have copies of both itineraries with you (at both outbound and return check-in.