NeverFirst

Checking in at JFK on auto-pilot, “and your final destination is XXX?”
”Huh, what?”
”Your final destination; is it XXX?”
”Oh, shoot, I completely forgot about that, please don’t tag my bags all the way through.”

That was close (and I intend to take the final leg, I just want to drop my bags home first so I can do the final leg and the return to London as a B2B).

Thank you to that agent for jolting me from my autopilot. Probably saved me at least £150 and 40TPs trying to book a one-way back to London while my colleagues wondered where the hell I had got to.

Virazuno

Lucky you!

These days, especially at the US outstations, it's usually the other way around.

sxc

Did you have an overnight in London before your B2B?

NeverFirst

I booked an overnight connection on purpose (plus it fits my work schedule better as well) but the agent seemed like they would have been happy to short-check it in any case.

NeverFirst

chris1979

decided to be less grumpy and not question the point of the thread.....

IntVic

Whatever the OP's point for the thread was, I am glad he posted it as I am thinking about an ex INV return journey with overnight layovers at LHR to take my luggage home. However, what I plan to do is fly into and out of LHR on AA. I assume they are T3 so I will have to collect my luggage anyway, and no room for autopilot... except for leaving luggage on a carousel at T3

NeverFirst

Airprox

You will only be able to collect your luggage at LHR if you specifically get the check-in agent to short-check the bags to LHR only. Otherwise they will be tagged to INV, and upon arrival at T3 they will be sent over to T5 and stored in the huge automated BA bag store there overnight until they are loaded onto your INV flight the next day.

IntVic

I never knew this... well you learn something new everyday... see why I'm glad OP posted this

UKtravelbear

This is important information. I just assumed - probably as many do and it is the standard advice on here - that having an overnight between landing at LHR and then departing to e.g. INV would automatically mean they would be short checked to LHR on the same basis as switching airports.

Like many I thought I had constructed my ex-EUs carefully to land at LHR on Thursday AM, take my bags home, and then do the B2B at INV on Friday to complete the trip.

jerub

This is why I always change airports to LCY for my last shorthaul.

Airprox

You notice a trend here?

Also, you have misinterpreted the "standard advice" I'm afraid. The overnight does not mean luggage is automatically checked only to LHR, it is merely a good reason to be able to give when you ask for your bags to be short checked.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, I don't know where these assumptions came from since AA and BA follow more or less the same rules (and it's often the same ground staff anyway) and any through itinerary staying within LHR will generally mean bags going to the end of that itinerary. Some anecdotal evidence suggests AA take a tougher line than BA in this area. I'm not even sure the "overnight good reason" is going to work on each and every occasion either, though the reports here are generally positive. To get short checking you either need (a) another airport connection (so via LGW or LCY) (b) a stopover scheduled to be greater than 24 hours (c) a separate ticket (d) a bit of good luck. Now even if that doesn't work out then somehow, somewhere you'll get your bags back, the airlines don't kidnap them, but it may be hassle however else you do it.

IntVic

Now is my assumption correct that I can add luggage to a flight having started the itinerary the day before (on a b2b)?