cysyuen

Dear FT Gods and apostles,

On 27 August I will be doing am LHR-BRU/BRU-LHR-DOH/DOH-CMB-HKG with BA/QR/UL. I will be carrying checked bags for the journey. I booked an Avios ticket for BRU positioning in the morning and will do a turnaround in the afternoon.

My question is simple: When will Qatar's check-in desks open in terminal 4? Does it open all day from 5 AM? As you can probably guess I want to drop my bags off at LHR instead of carrying them during my positioning"

Oh, one more thing: Will I have more allowance if checking my bags at QR check-in in LHR? The BA allowance for BRU-LHR is lower for the number of bags checked but doe MSC rule apply?

Regards

cysyuen
Just an OWE

LondonElite

We get this question a lot, and the answer is usually no. There are a number of complications:

- the QR agent might say yes or might say no, you'd have a wasted trip to T4
- what happens if your BRU positioning flight doesn't work out as planned and you don't make the return, what if the return is late or cancelled? In these cases your QR ticket would be cancelled. How much time have you built in at each point?
- have you considered left luggage instead?

cysyuen

Thanks LondonElite.
- As I am coming down from Scotland by train, I will do an overnight at LHR. I will probably still try doing it at QR desk in LHR. BA and CX allowed checking in bags mid-way before inbound arrived so should hopefully be okay. Worst case scenario is taking the bags with me to BRU and re-check.
- Positioning flight is BA392 leaving at 0825 hours, so probably is the metal's first flight of the day. Inbound is BA392 leaving at 1530 hours so around a minimum of 4 hours in BEU. As BRU-LHR-DOH is on one ticket so I am not worried. Besides, The flight to DOH leaves at 2130 hours so more than 5 hours to connect. Should be good. DOH-CMB-HKG leaves on 29th August so more than a day after LHR-DOH arrived.
- Not really as I intend to check them in as early as possible or drag it to BRU and redo. Worst case scenario is leaving them at Thistle T5 for the day (I may end up staying there).

msm2000uk

Personally, I wouldn't bother trying - mostly because when they say NO, you'll have to get yourself from T4 to T5 - which means a 6mins Heathrow Express Journey (+waiting time for the train, and walking to/from the platforms), or a longer bus journey round the airfield.

M

hotwingz

cysyuen So you're flying on three different tickets: 1. LHR-BRU; 2. BRU-LHR-DOH; 3. DOH-CMG-HKG?
I never heard QR allows you to checkin your luggage in the middle of your journey, but have also not red its not possible. I would appreciate if you could report back on how it went after your flights

remdk

cysyuen before any answer can be given we need to know how many reservations (PNRs) do you have? which flights are on which reservation? what cabin class are your flights?

As a reward flight LHR-BRU wil not be considered by QR since your baggage is not allowed to pass the same airport (LHR) twice and also because BA will not interline your bags. Officially there is a security rule that your bags must travel with you the entire journey so checking in at LHR before flying to BRU to start your QR journey is not permitted. But many airlines ignore that rule. The rule would not apply if BRU-LHR was also an award ticket!
QR will interline with OW partner UL even on separate reservations.
Yes the MSC rule will apply on BRU-LHR-DOH-CMB-HKG if you interline your bags. But do be aware that you baggge allowance is goverened by the which airline is shown on your reservation as the marketing carrier for the DOH-CMB flight. If it is a QR flight number then QR allowances apply, If UL then UL allowances apply. The MSC is the marketing airline that first crosses an IATA area boundary!
Check-in starts three hours before departure. Sometimes the higher cabin classes are allowed to make a bag drop earlier provided they already have printed boarding passes (OLCI).

Dr. HFH

What remdk said. If you can break them up for us so we know which flights are grouped together on each ticket and who issued which ticket, the answer may change. And regardless of whether it changes or not, it will be more accurate.

cysyuen

Indeed I am flying on three PNRs. I had a positive experience when doing an EX-EU in J on BA a while back, with a positioning flight paying with Avios to MUC before doing MUC-LHR-HKG (so 2 PNRs). In the morning of positioning, I requested to check in bags for LHR-HKG before flying LHR-MUC-LHR and was approved without quibble. I hope this would be the case for QR when I fly with them to DOH in Y before going on UL to HKG via CMB in J.

Thank you for your info there remdk. I was asking about MSC for the PNR concerning BRU-LHR-DOH. BA is the marketing carrier while QR operates LHR-DOH. I don't see myself being able to interline BRU-LHR-DOH with UL's DOH-CMB-HKG as I will have an overnight at DOH before resuming the journey to HKG. I fully understand bags cannot cross the same airport twice and I am prepared to take all the bags with me and re-check at BRU if it needs to be. Three hours rule is perfectly standard but I will still try pushing my luck.

In terms of MSC again, my baggage allowance would be 2 bags at 32KG each (travelling all segments in Y) or 50KG?

Here you go!

PNR 1: LHR-BRU -- BA
PNR 2: BRU-LHR-DOH-LHR/LGW--CDG -- marketed by BA, operated by QR and VL (LGW-CDG)
PNR 3: DOH-CMB-HKG-CMB-DOH -- UL

In case you wonder... I have no plans of going to Paris yet.

Anyways, anyone knows if QR has a check-in desk open all day in LHR T4?

hotwingz

Given that QR6 departs at 08:00am a check-in desk should be opened by 05:00am

theox

My two penneth worth...

- check in desk as [B]hotwingz[B] says it would be open from 0500! so yes.
- Bag drop before you board you BRU flight - i'd say almost certainly no. I know OWE helps but in my experience unless you're J/F or even a QR Plat (i know OWE is equivalent!) they are much much less likely to help.
-Baggage allowance as remdk has said it actually would vary if you check them in LHR onwards or from BRU ... i think! But my opinion is that honestly unless you're really trying to push the boundaries piece or weight wise you'll be fine with 2 good size and weight bags!
- I would also say that you MAY be able to (I would certainly try!) to interline from BRU or LHR all the way through to HKG (unless you're hoping to stop off for a few days at any time) as they're all OW airlines.

LondonElite

Not from LHR T5 on the positioning flight as BA will not interline on separate tickets, even among OW airlines (indeed not even with itself). I'm still not sure about QR accepting the bags at LHR T4 in what is mid-way through a journey. I believe we've had reports of success and failure.

remdk

cysyuen thank you for the information you supplied.
Firstly both BA and QR use the weight concept for checked luggage. I think that UL do as well.
Your baggage allowance should be printed on your E-ticket.
Since your flights are codeshare flights then the marketing carriers rules apply within IATA resolution 302 that governs baggage allowance. Thus your baggage allowance will be BAs allowance for the LHR-DOH sector. This will also be valid for the BRU-LHR sector. The LHR-DOH sector is the Most Significant Sector and that governs your baggage allowance. If you are interested in understanding the baggage allowance system then look at the Wiki on http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar...allowance.html.

Since the chances of checking your bags in at LHR are slim to none you will need to take them with you throughout the entire journey. You will need to collect them and check them in again at BRU. Because BA will not interline across reservations you will also need to collect and re-check them in DOH. However you can use the transfer desks and ask to have your bags retrieved and relabeled to your final destination. No need to leave the airside areas and go through immigration etc.

stargold

Personally I would leave the bags in paid storage at T5 for the day, then retrieve it upon arrival back from BRU and bring it to T4 to check it in directly before the QR LHR-DOH flight.

There is no restriction on check in bags to/from an intermediate connecting point, as long as the total for the particular flight does not exceed the ticket allowance.

Also, this will mean that QR will be able to interline to your onward segments, as QR will check through on other oneworld carriers (assuming other criteria are met such as maximum connecting time for through checking).