Yenakad

I have the following situation and seeking for urgent help.
I bought the following ticket on Expedia:

20.12.14 BKK-SHA with MU
20.12.14 SHA-SVO with MU (operated by SU)

Then I bought the following ticket on the SU website:

21.12.14 SVO-ZRH with SU

I planned to get a visa for 1 night and stay at the Radission Blue at SVO Airport. As I need another Visa from 31.12. to 03.01. the Embassy refuse to issue a double entry Tourist visa. So I only get the visa on my trip back from ZRH via SVO/SHA to BKK. My only choice is now to stay in transit for 1 night.
I just really worry about the following:

Can I check through my luggage in BKK to ZRH? One ticket is issued on MU stock number and the other ticket is issued on SU stock number. Both bookings are under a different booking file.

The second person booked on the same bookingfile as me have a Thai passport and can enter Russia. This will help to retrieve the luggage in SVO.

How about the check-in the next day for ZRH? Can I do online check-in during I am in transit and my travel partner drop of the luggage (2 pieces?).

Any advise in this situation is much appreciated.

mike2200

This request for info is posted twice

Yenakad

Sorry, just realized. How can I delete one of them?

mike2200

As a Mod. To delete one

ralfkrippner

The other one is deleted now.

ralfkrippner,
forum moderator

ralfkrippner

As for your original question:

If you get the right person it should be possible to have your luggage checked through to your final destination, regardless of the two different tickets. However there is no guarantee to this and so you have at least the possibility that they won't do it.

You fallback scenario for this will IMO not work out: Another person checking in your luggage is a no go. But he might be able to checkin this luggage onto his ticket if he has enough allowance or holds status with SU or skyteam.

Did you think about sending your luggage via air cargo or via parcel service? It might be not so expensive and you then have a working solution instead of something that potentially provides problems.

KQ321

Or if necessary, the other person could presumably just pay the excess baggage fees to check-in one more piece of baggage than their free allowance? (First extra piece on SU is €50...)

I don't have any direct experience of through-checking bags MU-SU, but I wouldn't be too optimistic about this happening (unless anyone else has recent experience of this on MU?). Although it should be possible technically, the check-in agent may not know how, or there may be a policy (official or unofficial) not to do it. Also, as the OP will be checking in in BKK well over 24hrs before the ZRH flight departs SVO, they may find that the ZRH flight is not 'open' for baggage at that point.

Yenakad

I just picked up someone at BKK and had the chance to ask staff someone at the MU desk. The response was a bit wired, to check-in to ZRH is not possible and they said they check the luggage only till PVG. I guess the agent was in rush and didnt understand the whole routing properly. However, I just realized another solution. My travel partner (Thai) check the luggage as normal to SVO and claim it, I check my luggage till PVG and apply the 72h free visa for Swiss national, I claim the baggage in PVG and check-in my luggage for the flight PVG-SVO-ZRH. Would you say this cause any issues? 2 traveller in the same itinerary but different luggage handling? Immigration for Swiss person in PVG only to claim the baggage and go to the SU counter and check the baggage to ZRH? Travelling on two different booking files? Otherwise I go with the option to check my baggage to SVO and my travel parthner claim it and check-in again and pay the EUR 50 extra piece. I still not sure how it will work with the transit in SVO, as I might dont get an Boarding pass till I arrive in SVO. Beside my luggage do i need to fear any immigration issues/troubles?

KQ321

AFAIK, baggage must be checked to the same destination for all pax travelling on the same PNR. (Some (I don't know whether all) airlines are able to split a PNR if necessary, but this can be a certain amount of hassle). However, if you are travelling on two separate PNRs, then it shouldn't be a problem to check bags to different destinations (as long as MU allow short-checking).

Once you get to PVG, you should have a better chance of checking baggage all the way to ZRH (as it's all on SU metal from that point, and it'll be a few hours closer to the departure of the ZRH flight). However, as it's still two separate tickets, I wouldn't say it is guaranteed that SU will be willing/able to do it.

I wouldn't foresee any problems getting visa-free transit to go landside in PVG to re-check a bag (and if you're on MU548/MU8152, you might just have time to ride the Maglev into town and back, so you could justify asking for entry as a tourist... ) but I don't have direct experience of visa-free transit at PVG.

Ahh... This is probably a slightly bigger question-mark. Having to collect a BP in SVO isn't a problem in itself - the bigger question is whether you will be allowed to board a flight to SVO when that is the final destination on your ticket and you don't have a visa to enter the country. AFAIK, the standard transit-without-visa-rules only require a (confirmed) onward ticket to your next destination - it doesn't have to be the same ticket - and so as you have an onward ticket to ZRH, you should be OK. However, I don't know how SU or the Russian authorities will view this.

If you're back at BKK any time, you might want to direct these questions to the SU desk there (although IIRC, it's only open around the time SU flights are arriving/departing).

Yenakad

I decided go with the option for the baggage to check till SVO my travel partner will collect it in SVO (which shouldn't be a problem?) and pay
for the ZRH-SVO flight the extra bag. I assume we can check-in seperatly and dont need to be together at the check-in counter. I did this several time with business partner on biz trips that we where booked same itin but met us at the gate.

Reg. boarding, I assume the only problem could be MU in BKK, in PVG its SU metal and I could show them my
that I have another SU flight. As i arrive in SVO can I contact the transfer desk and get my boarding pass? Can I moce freely between the terminal?

KQ321

Upon arrival at SVO, you will usually pass a transfer desk before you pass immigration and security to enter the departure area of the airport. So yes, you should be able to pick up your boarding pass there (and without it, I doubt you'd be able to proceed into the departure area).

Once in the departure area, you can move freely between Terminals D, E and F.