teom66

I have had a couple of cases the last year where I have a connection with United (US-to-US) to connect to a SAS long-haul flight with the family.

I have been surprised that they only allowed 1 piece of checked baggage each and not extra allowance for the Star Gold status ( I am EBD and my wife EBG ...guess how she got it )

Twice I had to pay $100 for addtional bags - and complaining to SAS when i got back it got refunded.

I have another vacation trip now in mid august connecting from a US location to EWR -> OSL with SAS in Economy.

Just for fun i had to check the United site for bag allowance - and guess what:
General ticket from the us location to OSL is 1 bag - with Star Gold it is two bags..... but if you also update the "ticked issuing company" as SAS - then it goes down to 1 bag - so no effect with the Star Gold status (and actually the same if issued by lufthansa, but if issued by Singapore - then you get the extra bag).

What is up with this ? Is it not clearly stated as a "perk" that Gold and Diamond gets 1 extra bag on all Star Alliace ?


(also I am looking forward to seeing if there will be a courtesy upgrade on any of the directions....we are two flying on the same PNR)

winstanleyc

I am EBD and seem to spend my life shuttling about on UA's internal network. Got stung for the first time at Detroit Metro (DTW) en route via EWR to MAN, apparently UA's *G baggage policy changed on March 1st 2015 so that UA internal US and Pacific flights no longer have *G baggage privileges in economy, even when flyers are later transferring intercontinental. It cost me 200 dollars and I pack much more carefully for UA connections now.

FT Guest xyzpdq

I believe that UA changed its policy so that essentially checked bagage come at charge, but as *G you get one bag free. So yes, you do get your *G perk.

Tennen

UA's baggage policy changed for non-UA *G. Previously, it was 3 bags at 32kg each. Now, it's the bare minimum required by *A - one extra piece. For flights within the USA, Economy gets 0 free checked bags. So, 0 + 1 = 1 checked bag at 23kg.

I don't see this mentioned in the baggage section of the SAS website, but this is on SK ticket confirmations:

Bolding mine. Since UA charges for bags whenever you check your bag in, if you have a long connection or stopover between your domestic/short-haul flight and the intercontinental SK segment, you'll pay the fee for the domestic portion if you exceed your 1 bag allowance.

Often1

UA provides exactly what *A provides for *G. That is one extra bag. For domestic Y, the allowance is 0, so the allowance for *G is 1.

It has been this way for 15 months and is the same policy which other *A carriers apply to UA *G when they travel, e.g., one extra bag.

No reason for UA to toss extra freebies to people who aren't even its customers.

diesel2k

Interesting. What do you think about my flight. I booked a Business Class ticket with SAS. The flight home is

Savannah - New Ark (United Airlines)
New Ark - Copenhagen (SAS)

when I look at my e-ticket from SAS (and look at checkmytrip.com) it says I can have two bags on the Savannah - New Ark flight.

I am *G and expect to take 2 bags +1 with me home. I even expect the bags to be 32kg kg each (because of business class).

The flight from SAV to EWR is a cabin with only economy class.

What do you think will happen once I check-in in Savannah airport?

teom66

Use this link and enter your reference number and you will see the bags UA allows:
http://www.united.com/CMS/en-US/travel/Pages/ChangedBagRulesOptionalServices.aspx?v_ctrk=HHLN$0-772-2045-1-1156



To the earlier comments: If you use the United links above and enter a trip from a US location (other than the direct IC flight) to Oslo and you enter SAS as the ticketing entity you get 1 free bag .
If you then add Gold Status - you still get 1 free bag only.
Everone in the party - regardless of status - gets 1 free bag.

So the way I view it they are not honoring their " 1 extra bag" for *G.

And it seems that SAS agrees since they on two occations has refunded the bagfee i paid.

diesel2k

When I put in my reference number and last name I receive the following error: (and it have said that for a few weeks now)

! Baggage information is temporarily unavailable for reservation XXXXXX. Please check back later.

diesel2k

Now I finally found out what to do and how to check it. Everytime I entered my SAS reservation number it would not find anything. Then I tried to go to another page on united and manage my reservation (still using my SAS reservation number XXXXXX)

This worked, and now I could see I had another reservation number from United YYYYYY

Then I went back to the baggage information page and tried it with the YYYYYY reservation number, and now it worked.

It tells me that both 1st and 2nd bags are free. And they can be 32KG each.

teom66

Exactly. And in my opinion they are then not honoring the extra *G bag. The two bags are "standard" for IC Business.

(I know that someone will jump in now and say that because the United Leg is Economy do do get the extra bags though...)

Wpgjetse

These bag charges happen to me most of the time well fling UA. UA staff does not understand *A policy most of the time and always want to charge you. You can get your money back on UA website. It takes around 3 to 5 weeks.

Often1

Let me be the one to jump in. There isn't enough information with which to answer the question. OP notes that this is a "trip home". Presuming that this is a single round-trip ticket, the baggage allowance for the "trip home" is the same as that of the marketing carrier for the first segment. Thus, the question to OP is:

What is the baggage allowance for your first segment and what would the allowance be for that segment if you had no status, e.g. were not *G?

By way of example, if OP were originating at SAV on a UA-marketed ticket, his baggage allowance would be one piece with the fee for the second piece waived. Thus, two "free" bags.

UA staff don't need to understand the structure of bag fees. It is programmed into the software and they see a passenger's allowance in front of them on the screen. OP's connection to an international J flight and his *G status are both cranked into the calculation.

teom66

I cant tell you the ticketing partner and origin for the last example in J....but for my own ticket it does not seem to have anything with the "first segment" of a return trip.

Mine is tickeded by SAS and originates with SAS in Y from Oslo to EWR and then to MCO. Thus one free bag + my EBD two extra bags so three in total.

Going home and checking in with UA from MCO to EWR (and then on to Oslo) there is only the one bag (so no "extra" for *G).

This is also evident when you check the general bag allowance on United.com without a specific reservation # entered. And it does not even help if you are a United 1K or Gold....still one bag.....

So I guess i will be continuing the practice of getting refunds from SAS

duvin

Just wanting to let you know that you're flying via Newark, New Jersey (close to New York, New York) - not New Ark.

Often1

Yours is a good example. An SK ticket on an SK-operated and numbered flight is almost certainly an SK marketed segment. In that case, SK has correctly provided you its allowance and waiver on the outbound (e.g., 1 bag allowance + 2 bag waiver for status) and UA has provided you with the proper UA + *A waiver on the inbound (e.g., 1 bag allowance + 1 bag waiver for *G).

That is the same allowance as SK would allow a UA GS, 1K, Plat or Gold, traveling on SK as a *G, e.g. 1 bag allowance + 1 bag free.

It's interesting that SK does what no other *A carrier I know of does by covering additional costs incurred by its own elites on other *A carriers. That's a nice touch by SK but, of course, has nothing to do with UA or US law. Carriers are free to provide more than they are required to if they wish.