YVR Transit/Immigration Question
 

Travelling LHR-(with BA)-YVR-(with CX)-HKG

Arrive YVR at 6:15 pm. Leave YVR 1:45 am next day.

From searching and reading related but not exactly the same info I get the impression I have to:

1) Pass through immigration at YVR and collect luggage
2) Hang around in the airport until the CX flight opens
2) Check-in for CX flight

Is there any way of easing the process? Can I really not check my luggage through from LHR and collect my YVR-HKG boarding pass at LHR?

I'm hoping that I've got it completely wrong and YVR will just be a 'normal' transit!

Thanks.

I've transited there once and I don't remember it being anything special.

Of course if you have two separate tickets with different PNRs and you can't check in your luggage at Heathrow to Hong Kong, then you'll have to leave airside to collect your luggage and do the check in for the second leg.

/hv

Why not? I've done that on a number of occasions - so long as you can show the ticket / reservation for the second leg there's not normally a problem tagging the bags all the way through...

There was a thread a few weeks ago, with input from SD1K and others, that suggests BA is not quite that obliging.

I transited from AA to connect on to that CX flight a few weeks back.

After clearing immigrations in YVR and collecting your luggage I am pretty sure there were desks with CX people taking the bags off you again before you exited the customs hall. I am not sure if they were also issuing BP's.

I had decided to check into a local hotel to get some kip in between flights.

BTW CX check-in opens at 11PM, well it did when the flight left an hour later (before the clocks went back).

If it's on a OW carrier regardless if it's on 1 ticket, it can and should be done according to BA's own rules.

Yes, in theory, but reality, as reported here by several very experienced travellers, is a little different. I have no direct experience, because I never check luggage, but I trust the posters involved in this case.

I flew into YVR on Monday. While I did not transfer to another airline, there were repeated announcements that you had to collect your luggage before going through customs even if your were only transfering.

This is the same thing if traveling through ORD.

Sure, this applies to through-checked baggage, which can then be dropped off at the transfer desk just past customs inspection. If the baggage is not through-checked (and that was the OPs question), it cannot be dropped off and will have to be checked in at the CX check-in area (elsewhere in the airport, and more importantly not open until many hours later). The type of ticket determines whether BA will through-check the bags at LHR. It won't on discount tickets, most of the time. BA is really trying hard to punish people for buying discounted tickets and get them to buy a more expensive fare basis next time (though I suspect the result is more likely to be to avoid flying BA). On a OWE ticket through checking bags on BA has never been a problem for me, on any route, but I've run into it on cheap UK add-ons and seen it on both long and short-haul flights. I've seen the same for issuing boarding passes (when clearly the fare paid has nothing to do with ability to issue a boarding pass). A sad way to run an airline.

Thank you number_6. I think I understand now.

I just want to check with you my understanding though:

Assuming I can get my onward boarding card and through-checking of my bags at LHR (which I think I will be able to as I'm on an AGLOB34) I do collect my baggs, pass through immigration and customs, but I then drop my bags off at the transfer desk and then go back airside using my onward boarding card?

I assume all this collecting and re-checking of baggage has something to do with the "first port of entry rule" that the USA has. I know Canada isn't part of the USA, which is one of the reasons I routed through YVR, but I guess they have some kind of "arrangement" with the USA. I'm trying to remember when/if I ever did an international to domestic transfer anywhere else but I can't. The only ones I remember are international to international and I through-checked all of those in the conventional sense. None involved the USA or Canada obviously. I'm trying to figure out if I have just been lucky with my routes and airlines or if this is just a USA/Canada/maybe one or two others thing.

Thanks.