I am flying USAir from PHL to AMS connecting to Meridiana to FLR. My connect time is under 2 hours. USAir says I can check my bags through to FLR and will not have to pick them up in AMS and recheck. I'd like to verify this. Anyone know if this is the case?

Are you on one ticketed itinerary or did you purchase the tickets separately? If it is on one ticketed itinerary then you just claim the bag in FLR.

Here is the background on how this works in general:

If USAir checks your bags from PHL all the way thru to FLR and has an interline baggage arrangement with Meridiana, then you will not have to claim your bags until FLR -- that is, in such a scenario you would not have to claim your bags in AMS since they would be thru-checked for you.

The important thing is to make sure at check-in in PHL that your bag is tagged to match your flights. However, if USAir refuses to or cannot interline bags with Meridiana to Florence, then you will have to claim them in AMS and check them in again at AMS.

I do not know if USAir has an interline arrangement with Meridiana or not, so I suggest looking into that. If they do, then you are good to go as long as the check-in agent is willing and able to do it. [If on one ticketed itinerary, that is usually a pretty good sign that you should be good to go without any issues and that there is an interline baggage arrangement sparing you from reclaiming them in AMS.]

Please continue the discussion in the FlyerTalk Europe forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Jouy31
TravelBuzz moderator

When I had spoken to USAir last week they said they had a baggae agreement with Meridiana. Thanks for reply. Now we'll see what actually happens in PHL.

By the way, interesting story. The return flights allowed for less than 2 hours to connect from Meridiana to USAir in AMS. We had booked through Expedia and were not careful enough on our review. Usually, unless there's a lot of time, we overnight in our connect city. And Meridiana did not have any good reviews or stats on the on-time or cancellation percentages. So I went to DFW and had the USAir agent change our FLR-AMS leg to the day before. Somehow she said she didn't have to issue new tickets and gave me a printed itinerary showing the new flight as well as the others. And she only charged $100 per ticket versus the $200 USAir told me it would be.

Last week I called Meridiana to see if I could select seats. Couldn't, but good thing I tried because when I verified our return change they said I still showed to old flight on the 31st and not the 30th.

Called USAir. They were amazed I was not issued new tickets. Back to DFW.

They wanted to know who did the change. All I could say was a dark haired girl. Bottom line, the change was never made and they didn't know what I was charged $100 each for as the change fee for International flights is $250 each PLUS fare differences. So the cost was going to be about $750 total. But they took pity, and probably were embarrassed, and just did the change for the existing $200 I had paid, and issued new tickets for the entire itinerary.

Two hours is more than enough time to connect in AMS.

I dont get it.
You said you purchased the ticket FLR-AMS-PHL in whole as one itinerary
Why would you pay $200?? 2 hours is more than enough, but I can understand your concerns.

However, even if you ended up missing your flight to PHL because of Meridiana's delay, you would be re-accommodated at the airline's expense...so why pay $200??

First, to answer your question on why I'd pay the $200 even if they'd reaccommodate me: Because I had a ticket on AA from PHL to DFW that I had bought separate from the USAir tickets. If I missed that flight it would be my expense. And, a minor point, we did not want to risk being accommodated in middle seats for 8 hours.

But, here's the best part. On May 30th we get to FLR for the flight to AMS on Meridiana and Meridiana says they can't find us in their system and we have no seat! Plus the flight is overbooked so at best we'd have to wait standby for any chance to get on. PLUS, they showed we had reservations for Saturday morning still. It didn't matter that I had a paper ticket showing I was on that flight, I wasn't in the computer. And my Saturday morning flight was never changed to Friday afternoon.

I called Expedia and they called USAir and they told me I had a confirmed seat and to tell the Meridiana agent to allow me to get on. I didn't try to embarrass myself with that line.

We did get on once they closed the check-in window. At 4:05 they took our bags and sent me off to security. The 4:30 flight was delayed a bit but we did get to AMS.

So, I just mailed a letter to USAir asking for my $200 back since they obviously didn't do what they said they did. We'll see if they agree.

agreed--AMS is very well organized

AMS shouldn't be an issue. USAirways PHL baggage handlers on the other hand......