radioshaman

Hello everyone,
Due to complicated travel restrictions I will soon be moving to another country but will not be able to check luggage due to there being no codeshare agreement between my connecting airlines. I have decided I will just travel with hand luggage and send everything else via mail.
What are the best companies you have found that provide this?
I am from the UK, and will be sending my luggage from there to Mongolia.
Thanks.

LondonElite

I can’t help you with the best company, but it sounds like you have separate tickets, and therefore no connection. If you had a single ticket to your destination, the airlines involved would have an interline agreement and your checked luggage would travel to the destination. What has actually been booked?

radioshaman

My company has gotten me a seat on a special flight into Mongolia from Seoul which has no codeshare agreements with airlines that get me from the UK to Seoul.

LondonElite

Two tickets means no connection, which means you should check whether you are permitted to enter South Korea, otherwise you will be denied boarding. How much time have you left between these two flights?

radioshaman

Yes, I am aware of this. As I understand it there is a transfers desk in Incheon Int. so that I will not have to go through immigration to transfer.

LondonElite

If you are currently not permitted entry into South Korea it is highly likely that airline 1 from the UK will deny boarding. This is because, as far as they are concerned, your trip ends in South Korea. This has nothing to do with luggage, staying airside, or a transfer desk. I don't know what passport(s) you are travelling on or your potential admissibility into South Korea, but you need to rethink this, I believe.

radioshaman

According to this https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-ad...y-requirements there is currently no restriction on UK citizens entering South Korea outside of a mandatory 2 week quarantine period on entering South Korea. Transfers are fine, and I have been informed there is a transfer desk you can go to where you are able to check in to another airline without needing to enter the country.

LondonElite

I do not know the precise South Korean requirements, but what you’ve quoted states that all arrivals (which you technically are) must undergo quarantine for two weeks, regardless of duration of stay. The separate ability to transit with a ticket boarding pass makes the implicit assumption that you are on one ticket. If you leave insufficient time between your two tickets, you may miss your flight, meaning you’d certainly have to quarantine for two weeks. How much time is there between these flights?

irishguy28

Is it you, Mr. Kawczynski?

Often1

As to the original issue, e.g. how to ship air cargo from the UK to Mongolia, I would have your employer make the arrangements through whatever freight forwarder it uses for routine shipments. At a minimum, speak with a number of freight forwarders recommended to you by people who do business in the region .

On the broader issue, this is also something which your employer ought to be arranging. The UK may provide broad-based information for general information, but it is not binding. This may be a question quite easily answered in TIMATIC or by the South Korean embassy. The key here is not to refer to your time at ICH as a "connection" and making it crystal clear that you are arriving from and departing on separate tickets.

Im a new user

This is what Timatic says with South Korea as the destination:

The above text is absent from Timatic if I search for travel to Mongolia via South Korea. Therefore, it is my assumption that you won't have to quarantine in South Korea.

Note that the airline taking you to ICN could treat you as a passenger going to South Korea, so the airline could maybe ask for evidence that you will be able to quarantine in South Korea. Also, you could end up having to quarantine if you miss your flight to Mongolia. Have you planned for this?

This text shows up when I search for Mongolia as the destination:

Are you still able to enter Mongolia somehow? Also, if the airline taking you from the UK types in Mongolia as the destination and sees this, they might insist that they can only let you travel from the UK to South Korea if you are admissible to South Korea.

As for luggage, you could probably put everything in one or more boxes and send the boxes by mail or by a courier like DHL, Fedex or UPS. Just a warning: DHL warns that deliveries to Mongolia may take an extra 10 days. I didn't check Fedex or UPS, but I have no reason to assume that they would be any different. Postal services currently have to divert lots of mail from air to ship due to lack of flights which delays a lot of international mail by several months. I'd therefore plan for a situation where you won't have your luggage (other than your hand luggage) for a couple of weeks.

It seems that you will have to quarantine for 21 days in Mongolia (if you manage to enter the country). You will have to figure out whether you can receive packages with your personal belongings during that time or whether you will have to arrange so that a friend sends your stuff once you're out of quarantine.

radioshaman

Yes, I have plenty of cash for this worst case scenario. I have a friend in South Korea, so worst comes to worse I can give their details as my "contact" or whatever, and tell them I am prepared to quarantine at my own cost if necessary.

Yes, although Mongolia has closed borders, the government is allowing some government sponsored flights into the country for nationals and people on business visa.

OK thanks, since I will be in a quarantine facility for 21 days on arrival anyway, I imagine that will be plenty of time for my luggage to arrive by courier.

Yes, my company is paying for my quarantine on arrival. I will arrange for my luggage to be delivered by courier to someone who works at my company.

Thanks for your reply.

irishguy28

Could you not just ask your company to delay your deployment until next year?

Often1

The issue at hand is whether his originating carrier will accept the transfer between tickets at ICH as sufficient proof that OP is transiting rather than terminating at and seeking admission to South Korea. Bottom line, the first problem is being denied boarding at his origin.

Whatever it is that OP is set to do in Mongolia must have some urgency and be undertaken with government approval or he would not even have been issued a visa for travel or permitted to board a "special" flight. Thus, as with the freight issue, this is something which his employer should take up with the air carriers and relevant embassies in order to assure smooth travel.

Im a new user

Yes and for that reason I think it would be wise to book quarantine for two weeks in South Korea and a return trip to the UK at the end of those weeks. Maybe that's more likely to be accepted by the airline transporting the OP from the UK to ICN. These bookings should ideally be refundable so that the OP can cancel them once he has boarded the flight from the UK to South Korea.