OWE baggage allowance?
 

Hi all,

Had a strange experience travelling DUS-HEL-JFK on AY yesterday. At checkin at DUS I was told that I had no checked luggage allowance at all, despite being Oneworld Emerald. This was clearly recognised in the booking, I got a lounge invitation and the check-in agent even added a Priority tag to my bag. Nevertheless she insisted on charging me EUR 70 for the privilege. I am a BA Gold = Oneworld Emerald but she (and the supervisor she spoke to on the phone) insisted that the extra allowance is only "on your own airline".

According to my reading of the finnair policy I would be entitled to one bag (0 for Economy Light + 1 extra OWE allowance).

Two questions for you if I may:

1. Am I missing something? Is there an exception to the +1 bag allowance for emeralds?
2. If not, what would be the best way to seek a refund for the fee?

Many thanks in advance for your help!

She was wrong, even OWS gets you one extra bag on all OW airlines. On AY, extra bag benefit also applies to HBO bookings.

Finnair has a feedback and claims form that you need to use.

Had a similar experience in 2019, flying SIN-HKG with Cathay as AY Gold (OWS). We eventually got the bag checked without a fee by simply insisting to have our benefits honored, until the checkin agent simply gave up. So even in the end they did not admit the benefit exists, but gave up the argument to avoid hassle. It was weird. No issue with any other benefits (lounges).

To confirm what others have already said, there should be no exceptions to the OWE +1 bag allowance. I'm BA Gold and have had a bunch of economy and biz light tickets on AY in the last couple of months and have always been able to check in a bag if needed, no questions asked.

There is one exception actually, but not on AY. But on BA light/basic fares within Europe. Your OWE gets you nothing in terms of free luggage there.

True, nothing in the OW policy says anything about AY being excluded; BA's HBO fares are however documented in it.***Extra baggage allowance for Emerald frequent flyers

As an Emerald frequent flyer, the following special checked baggage privileges will apply when you fly on oneworld airlines:

• On itineraries using the baggage allowance “weight” system - 20 kgs in addition to the ticketed-cabin allowance.
  
• On itineraries using the “piece system” - one additional bag for free in addition to your ticketed baggage allowance.
  

Note: This benefit is not available on British Airways' 'Hand Baggage Only/Basic' fares.

A bit OT, but this really annoys me. Nothing about this is oneworld (read literally).

Since the introduction of unbundled fares, it's a huge pain to understand which tickets includes what with various factors being of relevance here, such as marketing carrier, operating carrier (think codeshares), status (but from which airline?) etc. in order to figure out if one has a bag included or not... :rolleyes:

Yes this also annoys me hugely. Why would there be an exception for BA flights only, I just don't get tit.
What would really make things easy if all airlines within OW would maintain the same fare structure and perks.

Thanks all for your help!

A follow up question about the feedback and claim form: when I visit this page , it asks me to log in or create an account. Is this the right place / do I need such an account? I ask because having status through BA is the whole reason I don't expect to pay for the suitcase and I don't want to appear as a finnair non-status customer.

I had to complain recently to AA about the same issue and they saw my status through the ticket number. Got a full refund!

After some clarification - if I have a rewards HBO flight with AA would I get the 1 x 32kg 'extra' item?

You as OWE get 3x 32kgs (fourth bag free if traveling in Flagship F) on AA regardless of itinerary as long as it is AA ticketed, one item shouldn't be an issue if it's not AA ticketed.

Juse a note to future readers. travelled LHR/HEL over weekend on Business Light as OWE and no problem with free checked bags.

I just booked a bizz light from Brussels to Bangkok in november and could pick our seats for free as a BA Gold. I found the fare good 3500 E for both of us. Other carriers 4000 E plus

I have a up coming trip in business to the states booked through BA on a 6 leg run using BA, AA and Finnair . I find this luggage allowance for OWE confusing when reading it, but from what i understand is OWE gets 1 extra bag to what ever the allowance is for that flight (excluding HBO) but noticed on my e-ticket now that it says 3x 32kg bags for both BA and AA but only 2 on Finnair. Shouldn't it also be a 3rd bag as well? 2 for the business ticket 1 for the OWE.
I'm slowly moving things out i stored in my dad's garage 20+ years ago when i moved to Europe. And that third bag comes in handy right now.