Multi-City Question
 

When you use the multi-city feature on delta.com, would your luggage still be tagged for your final destination or does it end up in the baggage claim after each flight segment?

I'm confused... Do you mean on a connection flight?

When you use the multi-city search, that's mainly for when you're flying in to one city but returning through another (ATL-SAN, returning on LAX-ATL) or when you have to go to a few different cities on the same trip (ATL-JFK on Monday, JFK-SEA on Tuesday, SEA-ATL on Wednesday). In either of those cases, yes, your luggage will go to that day's destination, even if you transfer in a hub along the way.

If you're connecting through a hub (even if it's a three segment trip) your luggage still goes straight on through.

The only exception to this is when you TRANSFER from an international flight to a domestic flight. When traveling LHR-ATL-CVG for example, my bags will be on a carousel in ATL, where I'll have to recheck them (drag over to a different conveyor belt really) through to CVG.

Hi,

I find that there are certain connections that are not offered through the traditional round trip feature unless you use the multi-city feature by entering your own connection point. i.e. most times JFK is offered as a connection point, but there is also CVG that could be used on certain flights and the price is much cheaper and far less aggravating than JFK airport.

Oh okay, I see what you're saying. You're basically making your own connection but DL isn't going to see it like that. They're going to see it as XXX-CVG and CVG-YYY, rather than XXX-CVG-YYY.

So yes, unless you get the GA to work some magic for you, your bag will go to claim at CVG. Along those lines you'll also need to either recheck-in or print out both boarding passes at home since checking in at the airport will only print your ticket to CVG.

I disagree with the photojojo on this one. I've never had any problem getting Delta to check bags all the way through to my final destination, even when flying on different tickets, and it sounds like this is going to be one ticket. Just ask the GA to check your bags all the way through. Heck, you can even get them to check bags all the way through on different airlines if they have an interline baggage agreement - and even if you have two separately purchased tickets.

About a year ago, I had no problem checking baggage in Tampa all the way through when I flew TPA-ATL-IAD-DOH with TPA-IAD on DL and IAD-DOH on Qatar Airways.

Just ask the agent to check your bags all the way to your final destination. In your case, it might show up as one ticket and you'll be able to check in at the kiosk and get the bags checked all the way.

I think I inadvertently made it sound more difficult than it is when I said "work some magic". My bad.

In my experience, you don't need to ask. Your final destination is the one you end up at, regardless of where you connect. I guess, if there is a fare break (ie xxx-yyy is covered under one fare and yyy-zzz is under another), there MAY be a chance that someone goofs up and only checks your luggage to yyy. But from my experiences, you're going to zzz, and that's where your luggage should show up.

Can't hurt to ask at check-in though, just to make sure that they have it going to the right place.

From my experience, this is not true either and you should be checked-in and get boarding passes all the way to your final destination. I use multi-city on nwa.com all of the time to get itineraries like:
MSN-MSP-DTW-LAX-DTW-MSP-MSN
instead of:
MSN-MSP-LAX-MSP-MSN

I am always checked in to LAX (and not to MSP or DTW).

Strike TWO! I'll shut up now. :)

I'm working off memory here but I could have swore when I did a forced connection like this (on another airline however) when I did the OLCI, only the first segment printed.

As usual, YMMV. :)
I have a good test for this coming up next weekend:
ORD-MSP-LAX-MSP-DTW-BUF-DTW-MSP-LAX-MSP-ORD
all on the same ticket...
with about 40 minutes on the ground in BUF before the return...

There's a fare break, and it's combining an ORD-LAX and an LAX-BUF fare. We'll see what happens!

I've done this a zillion times on DL. As long as it is all on one ticket (with one PNR), it doesn't matter if you chose a connection offered by delta.com or if, using the multi-city option, you "forced" a connection that was not offered, you can still check you (and your bags) to the final destination. If it is two separate tickets (with two separate PNRs), then you will probably need to ask the GA to check you (and your bags) thru to your final destination.

For example, if my origination is BOS and my destination is RDU, delta.com may display flights routed via JFK. Using the multi-city option, I can "force" a connection at CVG instead of JFK. However, since it is one itinerary and one PNR, I can check me and my bags thru BOS-CVG-RDU because DL perceives that the final destination of the PNR is RDU. However, if I buy two separate tickets, one BOS-CVG and one CVG-RDU, each will have a separate PNR. When I check in the first flight, DL will perceive my final destination to be CVG. In that case, I would need the agent to intervene and check me thru to RDU.

The fact that the interary was created using the multi-city option doesn't affect this one way or another. What affects this is if it is one or two PNRs.