FRA connection conundrum
 

Hi guys, just looking to the wider FT community to see if anyone has any ideas for a little conundrum I'm facing.

I've booked a YYZ-FRA-PEK return, with a 23-hour layover in FRA on the way back. This is so I can sneak in a FRA-LCY-FRA journey (two one-way tickets) for a quick one-night getaway to London without upping the cost of the entire trip too much.

My FRA-LCY ticket is with LH intra-Europe, which doesn't grant any additional baggage allowance even for *G members. Therefore I'll be bringing only a carry-on from PEK to FRA to LCY. I intend to buy quite a lot of things in London for my return the next day; therefore I'll probably need to check a bag on the BA flight LCY-FRA. The problem is, I have very limited blank passport space and would hate to "waste" the space for two large Schengen stamps just to go through immigration at FRA, pick up my bag, recheck it, and go through immigration again. Does anyone see a solution here? Would BA through-check my bag onto an LH flight? Can I request to pick up the bag pre-immigration and therefore remain in the non-Schengen area?

BA will not check through to LH on separate tickets.

Would I be able to ask LH check-in agents at PEK to check my bags straight through to YYZ despite the 23-hour layover in FRA?

Yes, if you are flying LH on both legs they should be able to check your bags through to YYZ. However, it doesn't help your bag which you plan to check in at LHR.

Hmm, I'll probably do this:

• At PEK, through-check Bag #1 onto the PEK-FRA-(23 hours)-EWR-YYZ journey.
• Go to London with a small empty duffel bag in my backpack, fill it up with McCoys crisps and what not, and bring it back to FRA on the LCY-FRA BA segment as a carry-on
• Bring the duffel bag onto FRA-EWR-YYZ as a carry-on

Assuming the through-checking at PEK works, does anyone see any holes in this plan?