OK...newbie (to award travel)...lets get that out of the way and the forum has been priceless infowise. HOWEVER... I totally didn't think about my checked baggage till today and after searching found the word "Interlining" and basically the idea of "be super nice to agents and they will help".

Lets pretend I have a weird 3 different airline flight coming up...and one doesn't interline. I understand (and amazingly without planning have spare time at each stop) that you go out through customs, get bag, check back in, etc. And while I assume customs agents totally know what we are doing...what exactly do you tell them for length of stay and then length of being here? And is it really business or pleasure

Last few international trips I've made customs has been hit or miss on the friendly side of things and the "I've been here 30 minutes" or "I'm leaving in 30 minutes" would annoy at least 2 customs agents I can think of...

Welcome to FT!

If asked, you just tell them the truth - you are in transit.
I find it is only in Canada or USA that immigration officers ask you any questions,
in almost any other country you just show your passport ( and landing card if
needed) and they will stamp it without any conversation 99% of the time.

Done this at FRA, ZRH, BKK and MUC. Customs people didn't care

Very unusual that you would have 3 airlines on one award that do not interline - usually
if they are all on one award they are all alliance members, or allies of one of the member
airlines - I can't see why they wouldn't interline. Is this 2 or more separate award tickets?

I'm more going worse case scenario. I saw all the talk about interlining and assumed even among members it might not be 100%. FRA was my worry (not about customs but about not interlining between Air Croatia and LH) so thanks Wildfan88 for assurences that they won't care.

The flights are US -> LH (out) and then OU -> LH -> UA (back)...all one award.

As for "almost any other country you just show your passport ( and landing card if needed) and they will stamp it without any conversation 99% of the time" LHR customs grilled me last time about where I was staying (I didn't have an exact address, I just knew how to get there...they made me google it), how long, etc. I also had similar experience on a train in the eastern block but I was ready that time. But every other country didn't care (though customs out from DUB to US was a bit fine toothed they were at least nice about it)

If the flights are all on one award, they will probably be all on one PNR. In this case the bags will be interlined for you.

All star airlines interline with each other, so there will be no issues on that account.

I have an F award trip going XXX-IAH-LHR-FRA-ICN-NRT flying UA, LH, and OZ. I understand from my search of other posts that I'm able to check through from XXX-NRT as it's all *A. However, if I have a long layover at FRA is it possible to pick up my bag there if I wanted? Would I simply tell the XXX UA agent to just check to FRA?

Would the XXX agent be able to give me all BPs thru to NRT even if bag is only checked to FRA? I believe the answer is yes..

I never check bags but my companion will have to, so I'm unfamiliar with the aspects of interlining.

Thank you.

Is this one continuous ticket from XXX-...-NRT? (With only transiting along the way?)

If any of your stop-overs are longer than 24 hours, generally you will have to collect your bag and re-check it at that point. Airports do not like to store bags for more than 24 hours in my experience. Your bags should be checked through (and fully interlined) at any shorter stop-overs automatically. You can ask the agent to check it to some destination along part way; they may or may not do this, although generally for an F passenger I would be extremely irritated if they did not acquiesce to a reasonable request (i.e., "I have an eleven hour stop over , I plan to get some sleep, I would like my bag." or similar).

In principle all your boarding passes will be issued straight away, but for such a long trip it may be too early to issue some of the later ones. In this case you can collect them airside or landside later.

Thank you Calchas for your response. This is indeed one continuous ticket (I was on the phone with UA for 2 hours to get it booked).

This was booked as a OW so all layovers are <24 hours as stopovers were not permitted. I will make the request at check-in but prepare for the worst if force me to check to the final destination.

You should be able to check it only to FRA, just tell the agent to " short-check" until
there. Highly doubtful that you will get all the boarding passes, probably only for
the first 2-3 flights.

Last week I flew YYZ-(AC)-SFO-(UA)-HKG-(SQ)-SIN-(SQ)-CGK.
At YYZ, they were only able to check the bag as far as SIN, and only issued the first
2 boarding passes. When I stopped at the transit desk in HKG for the next boarding passes, I asked them to retag the bag to CGK, which they did, and I was given a new
luggage tag at the gate in HKG.

I have two separate paid tickets for mid August. The first one is CLT>PHL>LIS on US metal and the second one is LIS>IST>DYU on TK metal. I have a 7 hours stopover in LIS. I will have three checked bags and one carry on. I know that customs at Lisbon Airport are not easy to deal with. I am looking to find whether there is a best way to approach and ask US agents to tag two of my checked bags all the way to DYU.
I assume since US and TK are both *A, US can do so, but it remains whether they like it.
I am *G, but not US or TK *G.