divB

I have booked a flight from Lisbon to Azores via TAP. Fare basis is "E10DSC0B"; whatever that means. But it does not include checked luggage.

I wanted to confirm that TAP honors the free additional 23kg luggage for Star Alliance Gold members?

Everything I found points to that but there is no clear statement either.


If anyone knows that would be great. Thanks!

IAN-UK

Yes there is. It's a TP initiative. There is no aliance-wide concession on free bags.
There are also endless posts in this forum about it.

you selected the cheapest fare. it expressly excludes a free checked bad allowance.

but if your Star FF number is in your booking, online check-in will incorporate one free bag, even though your entitlement under ticket rules is zero.

divB

Thank you!

Sorry I am not really familiar with it. What is "TP"? Or did you mean "TAP"?

There is a (Star) "alliance-wide" concession (https://www.staralliance.com/en/recognition). I even found sources that specifically include all fare classes. This worked for me already on Lufthansa (being Star Alliance Gold via United). It says "Some airlines do not offer this benefit on individual flights but only on connecting Star Alliance flights" but I found no indication TAP would be part of the "some airlines".

That is of course true; but my previous understanding was that Star Alliance Gold gives the baggage regardless. That's the whole point of it.

Good, I added my Mileage Plus number on my TAP booking. You're saying that when I do the check-in 24 hours before, technically it should show up there (but I won't know certain before that)?

Is the screenshot you posted below how this looks like? It would even say "[...] even if you are traveling on a Discount fare".

Well, I am keeping my fingers crossed then that querying the status via the United MileagePlus number works. Thanks.

IAN-UK

TP is the IATA code attributed to TAP Air Portugal by IATA. In the same way that United Airlines is referred to as UA, Lufthansa as LH

I think you might be making too much of a meal of this. TP really can't spell out its rules regarding Star status and baggage allowance more clearly.

Here's the webpage. https://www.flytap.com/en-gb/baggage/hold-bagagge
Scroll down and click on the information button to get the pop-up about the free bag applying to discount fares.


STAR attempts to formalise an alliance concession on baggage, but this fails in most cases where airline offers "discount" hand-baggage only (HBO) fares which are cheap, but carry no luggage allowance. You selected one of these fares. Fortunately TP bucks the trend and maintains the free bag concession across all fares, as they explain on the website. If you were travelling HBO with other Star carriers, such as Lufthansa, you would have to pay to check in a bag, even as a Gold.

Entrain

I recently flew TAP on a discount fare. Yes, they honored my Star Alliance Gold and allowed me to check a bag free. But the TAP representative I talked to on the phone before the flight told me that, while they *should* give me a free checked bag, it is really up to the gate agents at each airport and she couldn't guarantee they would let it on. So that was a little stressful, but it was fine in the end.

the810

It's not up to agents, let alone gate agents (what do gate agents have to do with a checked baggage anyway?). The rule is clear, you get one bag on discount fare.

Anyway, I came here to ask a question which is less clear to me - does this extent to flights operated by Portugalia (for non-TP *G)?

tff

It does.

Entrain

The rule is also clear that they charge you a high fee per checked bag beyond the first one, and they didn't follow that rule, they just checked all our bags without charging me. As for what gate agents have to do with checked baggage, all I can say is that the gate agent at LIS told us our carryons were too big and took them away and checked them; we picked them up at the carousel at the end and were not charged.

IAN-UK

sorry - duplicate!

IAN-UK

it's probably unwise to rely on anecdotal evidence. I was hoping this thread could offer the final, definitive, information regaing TP's regulation regarding checked baggage on discount fares.
.
the question pops up in this forum with amazing frequency, given the number of times it has been answered
so it's maybe better not to muddy the water with excess baggage, carry ons and gate agents 😄