WineCountryUA

There get a overweight tag and are handled differently.

kettle1

I know an agent that got "chewed out" by their boss because they refused to lift a 116 pound bag by a US service member (which is allowed). The military service member said "no problem mam/sir" I will lift it myself to the belt. A supervisor said that is not "professional" to ask the military to lift overweight bags. That same supervisor refused to help him/herself to help with the bag and gave no guidance on who to call. There is no person to call for overweight bags. The weight limit is 70 pounds for an agent to put a bag on the belt.

laxff03

Hey all,

The family is heading out on a trip in a week overseas on award tickets. My wife wanted a new large piece of luggage, and fell in love with a Tumi one: (https://www.tumi.com/p/worldwide-tri...-case-0228047D)

My question is that it looks like it's about 6 linear inches about the 62" requirement for UA. Does anyone have experience trying to get a case of this size checked and not pay an oversized bag fee each time. I'm a 1K for what it's worth. I would normally think most agents wouldn't bother to pull out the measuring tape on it (assuming it was under the 70lbs requirement), but was thinking that they might be familiar with certain popular cases like these and already know they were too big.

What do you all think? I'm leaning towards telling my wife its a no go, but figured I'd ask.

WineCountryUA

Be careful on relying on the manufactures dimensions. Best to measure one in person.

Some gate agents have an awareness of oversized bags while others will let it slide. Impossible to predict or give odds.

StuckinITH

If your wife purchases this luggage, you will have to worry on every trip that no UA employee will take a tape measure. In my views it's not worth it. I'm sure your wife can find another piece of luggage that she will love. If your wife really, really wants this one, I have a solution for you, purchase this luggage and start traveling on BA. BA has a limit of 81 linear inches.

By the way, we have about 15 pieces of luggage (don't ask me, hard life) and the biggest one is 60 linear inches and every time I take it out of the closet, it looks so huge that I feel the need to take a tape measure to confirm that it's below the United limit.

havall

We were flying PUS-PVG-ORD with two regular and two oversized pieces, first leg on Korean Air, second leg on United.

Turns out that unlike in PEK (on our previous PUS-PEK-ORD trip), in PVG we had to pick up our luggage upon landing and then do the re-check with United. We have no status with Korean Air but yet in PUS, Korean Air checked-in our luggage without any issues (on both occasions). This time around, upon re-check In PVG, however, we were charged $400 (2x$200) for our two oversized bags.

Rules are rules, and I get it. On the other hand, does United get how it feels to be charged $400 in such a situation? (I.e., after not being charged by an airline with which we have no status; after not being charged on a previous trip; after not being assisted in getting our checked-in bags from one terminal to another; and so on...) I'll volunteer to say that I felt embarrassed, to say the least. (I would like to add, however, that everything was handled professionally, meaning we were explained the rules and that nothing can be done about the $400 charge, which we eventually accepted--although not after we stepped aside to consider whether we should repack a few things and just abandon the two oversized pieces instead of paying $400.)

laxmillenial

It sounds like you got it. While I'm not 100% sure how Korean Air does baggage, I believe it is by weight. They don't care about the size of the baggage (or that's how an Eva agent explained it to me), they only care about the aggregated weight. That's stated in their rules.

United, on the other hand, cares about size and weight. That's clearly stated in their rules as well. United doesn't get 'how it feels'. Why? Because American and Delta do the same thing. They care about size as well as weight. The gate agents unfortunately are not the ones who make the rules, they merely follow them. And they're decided many many many levels up the management chain.

It sounds like you were clearly under the weight limit, yet over the linear size of the bag limit. Therefore, Korean would not charge, while United would.

Had you done the reverse, overweight but under the size limit, you would've been charged by both due to how the rules were.

If you feel embarrassed, send a note to United via Customer Care. Maybe you'll get a partial refund, maybe you'll get an email back saying "these are the rules". I don't know. United and Korean Air are both airlines, so I can't say this is like comparing apples to oranges. But it kind of is in this case merely because of how Asian carriers do baggage allowances vs American carriers. They each have their own way, their own rules. In this case, it just burned you.

WineCountryUA

And this is the downside of not interlining bags and checking to destination due to two separate tickets.

havall

That's right; very much agreed, could have gone either way. Lesson learned the hard -- and costly -- way. Like I said, rules are rules, and I clearly haven't done enough research to be able to anticipate the effect that the re-check in PEK would have on my wallet.

I don't blame United -- the rules are what they are. Maybe I wish there was a somewhat better system in place that would have helped me avoid having to make a $400 call at a transfer airport. Simply put, had I realized or known the cost, I would have likely not checked these pieces with Korean Air in Pusan. Instead, because I felt like I was put in a situation with no good choices (at a transfer airport in China), I was hoping for just a bit more empathy from the airline that I fly and spend so much with. I hope that makes sense.

havall

Both connections were on one ticket, issued by United. Still, no interline in PVG. Our KE-UA PUS-PEK-ORD was also on one ticket, which did allow interlining. It was explained to me in PUS by Korean Air that this is due to airport rules (PVG vs. PEK).

jsloan

When you checked in at PUS, were your bags tagged to ORD (interlined) or PVG (not interlined)? I understand that you had to clear customs with them at PVG. However, if there was an ORD tag already on them, I would have expected UA to honor it, and I'd write and request a refund.

laxmillenial

Well, write in to Customer Care! What's the worst that could happen? They make you pay the $400 you already have paid?

Sometimes it takes a human being who has the power to do something (such as issue refunds or question policy) to take a look at the situation and go "wow, we do that? that's dumb. Or....wow, maybe we should have made an exception". Just write the facts, no status on Korean Air, checked bags, free. Status on United, $400. You understand the rules, but logically one would think this is wrong.

It also sounds like you could have interlined? When you checked in at PUS, did you state your final destination was ORD? or PVG? The bag tags, when printed, should have had one or the other. If PVG, then they were not interlined correctly by Korean Air. If ORD, then they were and United should not have charged you.

havall

I'll do that..

Again, great points. I wish I was more "aware" at the check-in desk. Korean Air knew our final destination was ORD. In fact, they checked us in on United too and gave us boarding passes for the PVG-ORD leg (we showed up on the gate upgrade list in the app, etc.). I don't recall what the baggage tags said -- and whether United replaced the Korean Air tags with their own. Based on the information in the United app ("Track my bags (beta)"), now it shows bags "checked at PVG" (not PUS) and "loaded on flight" so I may never find out what Korean Air tags said.

jsloan

Do you have the baggage receipts or bag tags? If either of them have both PVG and ORD listed, your bags were originally checked through to ORD by KE.

seenitall

I don't understand the issue here. When you purchased the ticket (either from KE or UA), it had specified on it what your free baggage allowance is -- typically in terms of weight and/or size. If your bags were within the limit and you were charged extra, that's wrong and you are entitled to a refund. If they were not within the limit, then you owe the money -- regardless of whether KE might have ignored the limit when you first checked in.

Not with respect to the OP, but I am puzzled. People on FT seem to get very upset when they don't receive something from UA to which they may be entitled (e.g., PDB, appropriate placement on upgrade waitlist, etc.), but they also get upset when they don't receive something to which they are not entitled. They expect UA to stretch its rules to favor them, but not to stretch its rules to disfavor them.