DocWatson

There is, I even did it overnight (well, 9pm drop for a 6am T8 flight). You come through customs and turn right and leave your bag there. Mine was tagged all the way to HNL via PHX and was first on the belt in HNL.

I have no idea how frequently the bags are taken to T8. And it felt a bit weird, I just left mine on a shelf behind the desk. But it did make it all the way!

Calchas

Yes this is normal behaviour. I appreciate that "through check" is being used to mean two different things.

What is suggested here is that someone was able to bypass the "collect, clear and redrop" phase—they never presented their bag at a US Customs inspection point.

With a couple of narrow exceptions I don't think that can happen.

Friederich

But surely the subject of this thread (BA1) is one of those narrow exceptions?

'Presenting' of your bag is done in Shannon - bags are unloaded and you are asked to confirm ownership of your bag from a video still at the immigration check. Bags then reloaded, and as you arrive domestic, they can be checked through without intervention as any other US domestic flight.
At least that's my limited experience of one trip on BA1 with a checked bag.

Calchas

Yes it is—those two posts were discussing other journeys.

On BA 1 (or arriving from AUH or Canada or BDA or whatever) you have simply done the customs part at the beginning.

corporate-wage-slave

That can apparently be avoided if you speak to the ground staff upon arrival at the gate in JFK, if you mention there is some connecting baggage: they can head it off before the carousel and send it over to T8.

Otherwise as you say they tend to put it on the carousel, if they are snappy - which they often are - then you have the disconcerting experience of coming down the escalator, about to walk out past the carousel and there is your bag going around and around. After a while it is collected and sent to the appropriate place, but I can see in this scenario you may as well collect it yourself.

Iamnotlost

My experience 3 weeks ago was that I cleared customs in Shannon. Bag was disgorged onto baggage reclaim belt at T7 in JFK. I watched it go round a few times looking forlorn. I wasn't confident anyone was going to take any notice of it so I took it over to T8 myself. It was sporting the sticky strip showing it was checked through to LGB which was my final destination. Eventually at T8 it got on a belt with lots of other bags and was eventually first out at LGB.

The bit of the process I am bothered about is the bags getting from baggage reclaim onto the next flight if I don't give them some help. I had a look around for a baggage transfer desk but didn't find one. Not having come through Customs at JFK I might have just been in the wrong part of the terminal. I don't like the idea of walking off and leaving the bags going round and round on their own. I'd be really worried I would never see them again.

Anyone know where I would find the baggage transfer desk as posssible alternative to lugging bags over to T8?

Calchas

Deleted

Iamnotlost

After slowly typing my previous post I saw what c-w-s said. I might give that a go (and then check bags are not on carousel because although I'm not paranoid....)

and what Calchas said. I'm just not quick enough.

Thanks

PWOZUK

To conclude this - my DUB-LCY-JFK-ORD-DFW flights 23 July went as planned with bags checked thru to DFW and no physical intervention on my part until collection in DFW.

LCY-JFK was on BA1

MHendo84

Did you have much of a layover at JFK?. I'm hopefully connecting at JFK in October from BA1 to BOS flight at 15:50 currently expecting to take luggage.

PWOZUK

I was on a 17:05 service JFK-ORD. The transfer from T7 to T8 is easy, follow the signs to AirTrain. My onward ticket was in F on the AA domestic, so I could use the First Class/Priority checkin desk to get my BP for the US sectors, as no BP for those was available in DUB. The biggest unknown is security at JFK. On this occassion I was given TSA Precheck, but not sure why, I am not registered. I just seem to get it on some US flights and not others (No TSA PRE on my return from DFW for example).

Our BA1 arrival was on schedule (13:55), the AA flights started boarding promptly 30minutes before scheduled departure. So long as your connection is on the same PNR you should be fine, and protected by AA if BA1 is delayed.

MHendo84

Thanks for that, AA seemed to have no issue moving us the the JFK-BOS service at 15:50, so technically under the 2hr MCT I thought was in effect. But yes all on 1 ticket.

If we take luggage then will get it checked through to BOS and will make sure I don't need to recheck at JFK.

Airlineanorak

I flew on the BA1, connecting to BOS last week and had a case checked in. Staff at LCY assured me that it would be transferred automatically to my BOS flight. However, after reading this thread, I asked the BA agent at baggage reclaim and she told me that BA have never done that and that all connecting passengers must collect their bags and taken them to the T7 transfer desk! Now clearly that's not correct given the evidence earlier in this thread but I wasn't taking any chances and collected it myself! It would be good if the advice was at least consistent from BA...

MHendo84

Did you wait long for your bag?

It would be nice to have consistent information. I thought I had read from someone on here previously that special services met the aircraft?

PIKnic

My family and I flew through from LCY on BA1 to LAX and bags were checked through and with a 3hr stop in JFK our bags were in LAX and some of the first off with their priority tags visible. Check in staff at LCY advised us that there were no problems having them sent all the way which was our experience.