nanyang

Was rather annoyed today... Given that CI don't have their own section and this could be applicable to TPE in general, I hope I get some clarity here.

Had the following flights booked (separate tickets quite obviously) today:
4V201 YNY-TPE (T1) 10.05-12.05 (Fly Gangwon from Yangyang in Korea); was at gate around 11.40
CI751 TPE(T1)-SIN 14.20-19.15

What happened:
1) got to the CI transfer desk in T1 and they refused to issue a BP
2) Was a J passenger, no checked luggage and no issues with the ticket or status for entry to Singapore
3) I sort of understood that they had an issue with the fact that I arrived on Fly Gangwon, "a low-cost carrier"
[ worth noting that my colleague who had a J ticket with TG to BKK was told by information desk that it's not worth his while trying to get a BP at the transfer desk]
4) ended up entering Taiwan, getting a BP landside and back through immigration (so wasted an hour or something with this process)

In what bizarro world does CI not issue a BP at their airside transfer desk? What difference does it make what airline you fly in on?

Is there a real reason for this? I get that airlines will not check bags through on separate tickets (well SQ do), but today's experience was strange.

Should I just have cancelled the CI ticket and booked SQ TPE-SIN to get a BP airside? (was trying to save money by flying CI...)

Safe to say I'm not overly keen to go via TPE any time soon (last time I did it on separate tickets was SQ to CZ a couple of years ago). Have never been a huge fan of CI to start with but no issues with the flight itself.

Davvidd

Low cost airlines don't interline about give access to other airlines. You have a point to point ticket and CI most probably doesn't have access to the system of the other airline.
It happens all the time.

nanyang

Ya, but how does lack of interline agreements play into this? No need to interline anything - just issue a BP at transfer desk... How I got there should make very little difference to CI.

And no, this does not happen all the time.

Look, I've flown on around 300 airlines to date - and this was a weird experience in my books.

Davvidd

Have you transferred from a full service airline to a low cost airline at flight connection?
Is CI the agents for whatever the airline you were joining?
If not they are not going to be able to to check you in. There are agreements between airlines for providing services.

refox3488

I agree that it is strange that CI would not issue an boarding pass to you in transit for their own flight, my only guess is that maybe they were not able to do document check at the transit desk and that, they usually have document check done at the origin airport to allow for printing of transit boarding passes at TPE and couldn't rely on the document check performed by the low cost carrier because their computer systems don't talk. It's also possible that this is a punishment for not using a partner airline for the original leg and trying to get people to not travel on separate tickets.

FYI: Since this isn't about EVA air specifically it will likely get moved to the Other Asia Forum in Destinations.

Often1

OP did not have a connection, expressly because he did fly on separate tickets.

But, that should not matter. There is no reason why a carrier cannot issue a BP from any terminal with a printer anywhere. That is the miracle of the internet (or intranet). This is simply an issue of spite and poor customer service and has nothing to do with the legalities of OP's ticketing.

gengar

Interlining is irrelevant. The whole point of a transfer desk is to take care of these issues airside. The passengers most commonly served may be those on connections, but there is no reason not to serve those who simply have separate tickets. Not a good look for CI here.

Davvidd

I misunderstood the OP. I thought he had come on CI and joining a LCC.

plunet

I might be tempted to follow this up with CI customer services, or if you can get hold of them a ground services manager for CI at TPE. It does seem that the only sensible reason was lack of training for the document check... Odd.

coolfish1103

Follow this up with CI but I doubt they will give you any meaningful responses other than we will look into this in the future and conduct proper training.

tris06

I definitely think it has to do with document check if they cannot do it at the transfer desk. They would definitely need to do this because at the end of the day CI will be the one who gets fined and covering the cost if there is an issue in Singapore not the low cost airline for the original length. If it is not that reason the yes we have a problem then.

henrus

I think you'll find this may have something more to do with Taipei airport.

Around a month ago I transited on seperate tickets from Eva to Cathay. Upon arrival I proceeded to the transfer desk and asked the Cathay staff for a boarding pass. I already had a mobile boarding pass but thought that they'd need to see my return ticket to the country I was traveling to. Instead he was much more interested in the flight I'd just arrived on and noted down the flight number.

nanyang

Yes, it might have something to do with TPE. This is all very strange from my perspective - will probably avoid this route in the future if I don't want to visit Taiwan on the same trip.

I'm quite interested in understanding what happened there. Nevertheless, the easiest approach is just to avoid TPE for these type of arrangements. I have also no particular interest in flying with CI so hoping to pick BR or SQ if I need to go to TPE.

blandy62

I had the same experience once. Flying NRT-TPE on Scott and then TPE-HKG on CI. Transfer desk could not issue the boarding pass even if I checked in online. Had to go landslide

i also did once HKG-TPE on CI and TPE-NGO on CX. cX transfer desk could issue my boarding pass

so I guess it has more to do with CI than TPE

blandy62

I had the same experience once. Flying NRT-TPE on Scott and then TPE-HKG on CI. Transfert desk could not issue the boarding pass even if I checked in online. Had to go landslide

i also did once HKG-TPE on CI and TPE-NGO on CX. cX tragedy desk could issue my boarding pass

so I guess it has more to o with CI and some kind of procedure at TPE