asdfghjk

I sent another email to [email protected]. They replied and said I have 2 free checked bags.
The first email I sent to a sale office (Chicago??). They probably didn't know or too lazy to check.
This is irrelevant to me now, because I rebooked my reservation with TK in business.

ckjmglee

Just flew SEA-IST-VCE with spouse on business class tickets using United miles..

When checking in at SEA, the TK ticket agent went to confer with another TK agent and then told me that I would have to pay for our two checked bags since the baggage allowance from United was zero.

I asked how a J customer could be charged for baggage especially since we only had one checked bag per person and was told that it's all based on what United transmits to them - and in this case, there was zero baggage allowance transmitted from United.

Thank goodness I remembered this thread and other similar threads on this issue and showed them our United Mileage Plus cards with the Star Alliance Gold symbol. They "waived" the baggage fee after entering our MP number into the reservation. At the end, a supervisor came over and indicated that this is 100% a United issue and they were only going to charge me based on what United had communicated to them.

The United website isn't really helpful as it does indicate that we should have received two free bags given the class of service and MP status level, but then also adds this disclaimer, "In compliance with U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, checked baggage policies for your entire itinerary are determined by Turkish Airlines. Visit united.com/baggage for more information."

Separate issue - I did also notice that our original BP from Turkish did not have Precheck and asked the agent about that - he asked for our KTNs, entered in the reservation and reprinted new boarding passes with Precheck on them.

Not a great experience...

flyerby

When did you reserve your tickets?

ckjmglee

United.com, Nov 2022

ISTFlyer

It's a known issue that the United GDS provider Shares doesn't communicate properly with Troya which Turkish Airlines uses.
That's why any information such as KTN, Redress Number, etc... would not be transferred properly.

ckjmglee

Thanks. Does that also Impact the baggage issue? Any suggested work arounds? Just wondering for the return flight�

ISTFlyer

Yes, and there are no publicly known workarounds.

nacho

It's more serious than that - I have had issues with 016 stock on ANA and EVA, the most recent one is with EVA. I have redeemed domestic ANA flight with UA and TK, on my TK tickets it said 2 pcs, same as my UA. However the check-in agent at CTS said my 016 ticket only allowed one bag, I showed her my ticket and she said since the ticket said 2 she would give me 2. At the same airport using TK award, no issues whatsoever, I got my 5 bags checked. TK is definitely providing the correct information for my award flight.

The most recent one: On my 016 ticket it said 2 pcs each, so with our TK G it should be 3 pieces, unfortunately, EVA super high tech IT system doesn't show my baggage allowance at all at MMB and just referred to my ticket (I called their Europe office but no one picked up the phone). At OKA the station manager said I can either pay $140 and to claim it back with UA or drop one of the bags. I repacked and managed to check them in - they were reluctant to interline when I had 5 bags as they didn't know how TK bag charges are. But with 4 bags I was able to check it all the way back home.

I have filed a complaint to DOT because this is unacceptable - when I buy a ticket with UA I made an agreement with UA and the ticket is the contract. UA is responsible to display the luggage allowance.

ckjmglee

Had 12 days before returning so I tried a few things to avoid the problem on the return:

• Called UA customer service and wound up speaking with a supervisor. She was appalled and said the baggage rules should follow the class of service. Explained to her that TK said that it's based on the baggage allowance transmitted by UA. She did some research via Star Alliance and suggested that I contact SA and point out that TK was essentially violating the SA agreement.
• Submitted a form on SA, which was forwarded to "the concerned department" of TK.
• TK responded a couple of days later essentially saying that United is at fault for transmitting a baggage allowance of zero
• Also emailed [email protected] as someone suggested - never heard back from them
• Chatted online with UA customer service and they were also perplexed. Took awhile, but UA said that they updated my reservation/record and said TK should be able to see my UA Plat/SA Gold status and that the baggage allowance should be 3 free bags per person. The also added at the end that this is a TK issue...
• Checked in for the return at FCO with three bags total. The agent seemed perplexed at first, asked whose MP number this was (it was my spouses), did something and checked in all three bags at no cost.

At the end of the day, UA says it's a class of service issue that TK should know about and honor. TK says it's a UA issue for transmitting zero as the baggage allowance and TK's rules apply since I'm flying with them. In all fairness to TK, SA's website has this disclaimer, "Baggage policies, allowances, and charges differ from airline to airline. For legal reasons, they cannot be standardised across the Alliance" similar to UA's disclaimer that essentially says that TK sets the baggage rules when you fly on TK.

Glad we weren't charged, but a frustrating situation that neither TK or UA is looking to fix...

nacho

IT IS UA's PROBLEM! All the UA award tix (SQ, BR, NH) I have said 2 PCS. But at the airport it was only 1 PCS. The BR station manager at OKA told me that all UA award tickets don't put in the correct # of baggage allowance on the ticket and they have to tell their passengers that's not the case and said pay and claim it from UA (I said the chance of UA paying me back is close to 0).

Never had ANY issue with TK issued *A ticket. The most hilarious thing was UA award flying TK Y (TATL) has 0 bag allowance when TK doesn't even sell that kind of $h!t fare!

rwSEA

I faced this problem yesterday; I had booked a flight from Ashgabat to Amsterdam using UA miles, traveling in business on TK. At check-in in Ashgabat (one of the world's most isolated and unfriendly airports btw, with no wifi or mobile internet service), I was informed that my business class ticket didn't include baggage and I would be forced to pay $300 to check one bag (weighing 18 kilos). This is not the kind of place where they bend any sort of rule, and after escalating to several people including the station manager, I was told that my bag would absolutely not be travelling unless I paid $300. Since I was effectively being held hostage, I resigned myself to paying. This is also a country where credit cards are not accepted, but I tried anyway. They swiped my card twice and said it didn't work, they can't modify the reservation because it's an 016 ticket, and that unless I paid in cash I couldn't travel with my bag. I gave them the only cash I had, which was less than $300, and I did receive a receipt. The bag was checked and everything else was fine.

In Istanbul I asked in the lounge and was told that this charge was erroneous, as United does include 1 checked bag of up to 40kg. Of course the person there couldn't / wouldn't give me a refund, so I've submitted a claim online for the cash paid.

Then when I got home, I now see that both of the credit card swipes above did in fact go through. So in addition to the cash paid, I've also had $600 charged to my Chase Sapphire card. Due to this bug with UA, and TK's general incompetence, I've now been charged nearly $900 for something that was included for free in my ticket. I'm furious and although I'm hopeful I can get the $600 in credit card charges reversed (I never signed or authorized these, and never received a receipt because I was told the transaction failed), I'm worried that TK won't repay the cash either.

Lesson learned already - don't every fly with TK on a UA award ticket. And frankly, TK's service sucked and the whole IST experience wasn't great either. I'll avoid TK all together after this experience.

flyerby

Isn�t the 2 X $300 a simple CC chargeback?

SK AAR

The 2x USD 300 should easily be reversed when you contact the credit card issuer. Just keep it simple and state that these are unauthorised transactions.

The 300 paid in cash will not be refunded. You will end up being directed back and forth between UA and TK.

As you may have noticed this is not the first time pax on UA awards have faced issues with getting TK to honor checked luggage allowance. Apparently, the checked luggage allowance info is not passed on to TK due to IT platforms not in sync.

nacho

As I mentioned earlier, this is not just a TK issue, UA award tickets have issues with NH and BR apart from TK. We don't see them but I was told by the BR station manager at OKA telling me that IT IS UA's PROBLEM.

@OP - What was the baggage allowance on your ticket? If it said 2, file a complaint with both UA and DOT (since this ticket is issued by a carrier from the US). We need to put pressure on DOT to get them to make UA providing correct checked bag information. We are not supposed to have to waste time to play Sherlock Holmes to dig out the baggage allowance for a flight that is ticketed by UA.

Ask for Mileage Plus miles or Electronic Travel Credit if you are ok with it - UA is more likely to give you this rather than $. TK owes you nothing in this case as they will just push the responsibility to UA which I agree.

rwSEA

My email ticket from United clearly states that I�m entitled to 1 bag up to 40kg. As an aside, TK�s website also states that business class passengers are entitled to 1 bag at 40kg. So both TK�s general policy as well as my ticket confirmation from UA confirm that the ticket includes baggage.

TK rejected my claim within 8 hours stating that UA�s baggage policy applies. I�ve sent them the ticket from UA illustrating that there is no bag change via either policy.

As suggested above, I will file a DOT complaint next. Likely against both TK and UA as I see them equally responsible here.