Through check-in on separate tickets
 

Hi,

I have a business class flight booked on UL from LHR-BKK via CMB. This is the return journey of the ticket.

Since travelling the outbound sectors, I now have to go directly from BKK-CEB via HKG on CX also in business class.

My new routing will now be LHR-CMB-BKK-HKG-CEB on UL and CX, no stopovers involved.

I have been trying to find out from UL, but so far to no avail, I've been passed to 3 different offices and still not received an answer, whether I will be able to check bags and myself through from LHR-CEB, and not have to pass immigration, and re-check in say in BKK for the CX flights.


Also I'm a one world sapphire if that makes any difference.

Many thanks in advance if anyone is able to help or give any info regarding this.

Pretty certain you can check them all the way through as they are 1W partners and will have an interline agreement. The only concern would be whether they can do it for four segments.

Hi,

Yes 4 sectors is the only problem that I can see in regard to it, I always thought it was 3 maximum, but not for sure.

The question is not whether there is an interline agreement. All OW carriers have one. It is whether UL will interline across separate tickets. That is a specific question and it is one where you may not have your answer until you check-in.

The baggage can be checked through, but will likely require a manual baggage tag (and an Agent who knows how to generate one), due to a triple connection.

since you are on separate tickets then plan on the assumption that no through checking of baggage will be provided since there is no entitlement to such a benefit

Also be aware that there is no protection if you miss the onward flight due to a delay of the UL flight so make sure to allow time in case of delays and would suggest ensuring that the purchased ticket is not one where a no-show will cause a loss of fare

I've had mixed results with interlining across tickets between oneworld members.
Never a problem when checking in with AA or QF, has varied with port and agent with CX, JL, AY and BA.

I'm not sure... I've had an 8 sector non stop routing before, HEL-LHR-DXB-LHR-HKG-NRT-SIN-PER-MEL with a ticket change in NRT.
NRT-MEL was tagged through, even though I had to collect in PER.
I collected bags in NRT between the tickets. the AY agent in HEL was willing to check through to NRT, but I don't fully remember if I had them tag only to LHR and kept the bag in storage at LHR for the LHR-DXB-LHR turn.

AA in PHL would only check my luggage through to HKG on PHL-DFW-LAX/-/HKG-SIN-CMB. The layover in HKG was long enough to collect and re-check it, so I didn't fuss. When I stopped at the CX business check-in at LAX, they were not impressed. The bag was pulled and re-tagged.

Swings and round-abouts :rolleyes: as I go wandering

Fred

I would absolutely not recommend this...

Earlier this year, UL in SIN had difficulty issuing (but eventually they found out how to do it) SIN-CMB-FRA-CPH-BGO and they said there will be 2 baggage tags.. I thought, er, no, more margin for errors and misconnection.

So I checked it SIN-CMB-FRA and then rechecked it from FRA-CPH-BGO.

These were on separate tickets.

Strongly agree! No use calling anyone or reading interline agreements - the result depends on the agent who accepts your bag at check-in.

Given the wrong answer, there's no harm in asking if a supervisor can help, but the result is not guaranteed.

If you arrive at an airport with too little time, you just might find airline/security staff who will escort you directly to bag claim and back (most likely to happen at smaller less-formal airports).

I am surprised they let you check back through the same airport (LHR). I recall trying to check my bag LHR-DXB-LHR-JFK on BA, all on one ticket (oneworld RTW - and yes, it was a mileage run) and they flatly refused, so I had to "enter" DXB, collect my bag, and check it back in - even though the flights were all on BA so they weren't even interlining!

But then BA have always been very difficult about checking bags through. Two examples:
(1) separate tickets, I check in for HKG-BKK on TG and through-check onto BA BKK-LHR. No problem. Returning, BA refuse to through-check "because we don't have a baggage interline agreement with TG". Oh yes you do, here is my baggage receipt for the inward flight clearly showing an interline between TG and BA, and btw here is TG's online list of airlines with which they have baggage interline agreements, so you are clearly lying. I didn't express it that way, of course, but they still refused to interline
(2) flying with family GVA-LHR after a ski-ing trip. Family were staying in England, I was connecting back to HKG on CX. Four people, four bags. I wanted to take two back to HKG (the ski-ing gear) but again they flatly refused, because I was only entitled to one bag on BA and therefore they would only through-check one bag

:mad::confused::td:

The reason was incorrect, but the agent was correct in refusing. BA policy is not to provide through checking of luggage on separate tickets where the onward carrier is not a OW airline


Seems correct; 4 passengers would entitled a total of 4 bags. If then only 1 passenger was travelling onwards on CX, why would 4 bags be permitted. The allowance for that journey ( if separate tickets ) would be 20K economy on CX and 1 bag max 23Kg on BA or 20Kg the whole way if a through ticket. Anything over 20Kg ( in economy ) is chargeable at $60 per Kg

The point I was making - and which I thought I had made clearly - is that BA are difficult about interlining. Your statement about their policy, of course, only reinforces this. That policy is (just about) understandable but demonstrates a lack of attention to passenger desires/needs - and stands in stark contrast to the approach of TG who were prepared to interline short-haul (HKG-BKK, about 2.5 hours) onto non-aligned long-haul (BKK-LHR, about 12 hours and a hugely higher fare) when BA were not prepared to interline long-haul to short-haul. That BA staff blatantly and demonstrably lied in an attempt to justify this simply adds insult to injury. I don't like being lied to...

Again, I think you misunderstand (or perhaps misstate) my point. We were entitled to take four bags - one per passenger. We took four bags. I wanted to interline two of them, but BA said they would only interline one. For the sector we flew on BA we were within limits (taken as a family group), and of course BA carried all the bags anyway. However, I had to "enter" the UK, retrieve the additional bag, then check it back in. Given that it made no difference to the baggage they actually carried, and they were prepared to interline one, why not interline two? Again, lack of concern for the passenger.

I repeat my initial assertion - BA are very (and I would add "unnecessarily") difficult when it comes to interlining

BA's policy is quite reasonable imo

If you only purchase a ticket with BA to BKK, it is not going to take responsibility/liability for it for the onwards flight. Book a through ticket and the benefits of a through ticket are provided

In the other example, it read to me that 4 people were travelling from GVA-LHR and then 1 person was travelling on to HKG.

The allowance is 1 per person and does not cumulate as a family group, so only 1 bag would be entitled per person to be checked through

BA are not being difficilt, just simply proving that which has been paid for. If a passenger wishes to buy separate tickets, then the passenger needs to accept that there are also drawbacks of separate tickets

That sounds like a defense of BA.

It would be very hyperbolic to equate them to Ryanair, but imo their interest in serving their passengers has become very luke-warm. Management sees costs but no benefit in making pax happy.

No doubt there is some cost in having someone schlep a bag over to a 'foreign' carrier (but if BA misses the transfer, it's the receiving carrier that handles the problem) and with no measurable benefit we just won't do that. Got more pax than we need.

My understanding is the originating carrier pays the cost of getting misplaced/misconnected bags to the passenger.

I recently was flying LAX-MIA-LHR on AA, then LHR-DOH on QR, each segment on separate Award tickets. No problem checking luggage through from LAX- DOH. Due to a delay due to a technical problem with the plane in MIA, ended up missing my connection in LHR. Had a long conversation with an extremely helpful AA agent in T3, who eventually got the missed connection sorted out. It turned out she is the AA representative to the meetings that are held by the Oneworld airlines regarding Oneworld policy, and what she told me is that it is Oneworld policy to treat back-to-back tickets as if it were a single ticket, as long as both segments are on Oneworld airlines. (In my case, the back-to-back Award tickets added a complication that she then sorted out.) So I understood from her that it should make no difference whether there is a back-to-back ticket or a single ticket regarding checking of baggage, handling any interrupts, and so on, so long as all legs involve just Oneworld airlines. Also, AA has now announced that it will not interline with non-Oneworld airlines with back-to-back tickets.

On another occasion I had a ticket with 4 segments and the agent just stapled together a baggage tag with 3 of the segments and a baggage tag with the fourth segment -- no problems.

Sorry, do not mean to hi jack this thread.
I have a similar question concerning interline baggage transfer.

My itin: NRT-HKG on CX J (late night arrival), connecting to HKG-DFW on AA J next day at 13:30. On separate tickets. I want to check my bag to DFW.

I don't think there should be any issue? Am I wrong?

If I did not have time to get my AA BP when I departing from NRT, would that make any difference? At night in HKG, is the transfer desk still be opened?

TIA.

There are a number of transfer desks at HKG, each near a transit security checkpoint. Most of the checkpoints close down over night, however 2 are open 24 hours. I assume the related transfer counter matches the checkpoint hours.

Can any of the transfer counters issue AA boarding passes?

I haven't used HKG transfer desks for AA but have for several other airlines, they are generally only open for a few to several hours before departure. I'm sceptical you can check in the evening for a flight departing the afternoon of the next day (particularly for an airline with only one flight a day).