What happens to checked luggage on multi-city bookings?
Mar 8, 2024, 2:36 am
#1
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What happens to checked luggage on multi-city bookings?
For a multi-city booking such as NCL-LHR, then LHR-SYD then SYD-PER, with at least one day between all of the flights, what happens to luggage I check in at NCL? Do I collect it and re-check it at LHR and SYD (my preference), or is it checked all the way to PER?
Mar 8, 2024, 2:41 am
#2
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When you say "at least one day", I think we need to be a bit more precise: you can have bags checked through, but the maximum scheduled time the bags can stay in (say) Heathrow is 24 hours. So if you arrive into LHR at 15:15, your bags can be through checked if you depart next day at 15:10 (and on the same booking). If departing 15:20, whether it's one booking or two, you can't through check.
In SYD - and with many countries - you have to custom clear baggage at the port of entry and move over to the domestic terminal, so you have to retrieve luggage there anyway. It's not the European system.
In SYD - and with many countries - you have to custom clear baggage at the port of entry and move over to the domestic terminal, so you have to retrieve luggage there anyway. It's not the European system.
Mar 8, 2024, 3:18 am
#3
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Thank you for the swift and informative response CWS. For clarity, the booking is a single multi-city booking and there will definitely be more than 24 hours between arrival at LHR from NCL and departure from LHR to SYD. It is very likely to be a mid-day arrival at LHR from NCL and then a departure to SYD the next day late in the evening - so 30+ hours. My preference would be to collect the checked luggage on arrival from NCL and then re-check it the next day, and it sounds as though I have to so that's good. Also I was a bit sleepy this morning and forgot that at SYD I will have to collect my checked and take it through customs.
Mar 8, 2024, 5:54 am
#4
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A further question has occurred to me: does my checked luggage need to begin its journey with me at NCL on day 1 or could it begin its journey with me at LHR on the evening of day 2 (the following day)? Remember that if it did fly the NCL-LHR leg with me it would need to be collected at LHR and checked on the evening of day 2, so in any event will it will be being checked in at LHR. For clarity I am basically saying that on this single-ticket, multi-city booking with >24hrs between flights, would my not checking in baggage at NCL on day 1 preclude me from checking it in at LHR on day 2. My feeling is that it would not, but I would appreciate it if a wiser person than me could confirm that.
Mar 8, 2024, 5:58 am
#5
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A further question has occurred to me: does my checked luggage need to begin its journey with me at NCL on day 1 or could it begin its journey with me at LHR on the evening of day 2 (the following day)? Remember that if it did fly the NCL-LHR leg with me it would need to be collected at LHR and checked on the evening of day 2, so in any event will it will be being checked in at LHR. For clarity I am basically saying that on this single-ticket, multi-city booking with >24hrs between flights, would my not checking in baggage at NCL on day 1 preclude me from checking it in at LHR on day 2. My feeling is that it would not, but I would appreciate it if a wiser person than me could confirm that.