emcampbe

me neither.

I suspect the agent was lazy and had no interest in making even a bit of effort to help out a customer. Sometimes, our jobs require doing more than just minimum and making an excuse.

As a counter example, and you can see upthread, I had an agent (and sup) at SFO make a massive effort to help me through check bags through to SQ, when the computer was not cooperating. They could pull up my SQ itin, but it was telling them my travel class was ‘not valid’. It took almost 45 minutes (I came early expecting it would take a few minutes longer), and agent worked to do it, then sup…all behind the counter had a great attitude, sense of humor, etc. I know some people have suggested that SFO staff are not…great, but at least the crew at international check in that night was amazing. Would be nice if we all put in the little bit of extra effort at our jobs, but it’s only a small portion, unfortunately.

lincolnjkc

Unless there is no earlier flight upon which space is available... Over the years I've built a few domestic itineraries that had 4+ hour connections and were through-fared/not a stopover because that was the first flight upon which space was available after I arrived at my connecting point (yay for red-eyes and less-populated Midwestia)

Not only not applicable but enforced at an agent and not system level...Long story short I recently had a bag tag inadvertently printed ~21 hours prior to departure.

Sounds like an agent didn't want to expend more than the minumum amount of effort and/or has been spending too much time on hold for the AO Helpdesk -- I had a itinerary last week that required the check-in agent to call the AO helpdesk and the whole thing was taken care of in 2 minutes or less with the biggest portion of that being confirming that I was really in EWR and not IAD... On the other hand I've walked by agents at the TC and in the clubs (particularly IAD clubs) who have UA's godawful hold music on speakerphone and the answer is always "waiting on the helpdesk..."

[Long story long: Had an itinerary in May that a TA booked and inserted a space in place of the hyphen in my surname which borked all of UA's automated systems for check in/passport verification [which expect the hyphen to just be deleted/mushed together], and trying to use Agent on Demand's "Document Verification" feature was a frustrating waste of time -- after 45 minutes holding for an agent only to be told not only can they apparently not verify documents despite that being an option but I "should probably get to the airport extra early in case there are other problems with your reservation" -- being slightly freaked by that comment, drove over to the airport where one of my agent BFFs was a the counter, verified my passport, and completed check in -- since I had told the app I was checking a bag the bag tag auto printed with the boarding passes. The agent gave me the BP but because (a) it was the day before, (b) I didn't have my bag with me, and (c) it would be insanely outside of the window they voided the ABT and proceeded to essentially shred it with scissors before disposing of it.]

jsloan

Unfortunately, most UA fares have dropped that provision.

IndyHoosier

In 2019 at ORD, ANA checked my bag in the morning for my 5pm HND flight. I emailed them beforehand to confirm. This was their response:

"In response, you may check your baggage during the check-in time for ANA Flight NH11, Chicago to Narita. The check-in time is between 3 hours and 1 hour of departure."

winovin

Hi,

I am flying the return leg on a EWR/FRA United ticket. I looked at buying a same day ticket onward from Frankfurt but UA shows no availability, even though LH has a full schedule.

If I buy the LH ticket separately, can UA check me in for that segment as well (including bag check?). Or would I have to exit FRA to collect my bags and do a new check in?

Would my 2 bag UA entitlement vs 1 bag LH entitlement create any issues if UA can check me in?

If not, how onerous is the process to collect bags etc and reenter at FRA (I am there rarely).

Thanks in advance

WineCountryUA

LH does not allow UA to book intra-european flights unless part of an intercontinental ticket.
No longer able to book LH Group intra-Europe only flights on UA 016 ticket stock

UA can check the bag thru to the LH flight but UA will not issue the BP, do that thru LH -- such as the LH app.

The UA allowance will cover the outbound. The return will be based on LH rules.

probably unneed, but if you go that route allow time for bag retrieval, bag check and security -- at least 3 hours perhaps a bit less as an *G elite

Brostman

Reading the earlier posts, I understand I should be able to interline on the following itinerary: ORD-LHR on UA on one PNR..... 12 hour connection time at LHR.... followed by LHR-SIN on SQ on its own PNR. My inquiry..... will the 12 connection time pose any issues for the bags to "get misdirected/lost/set aside & forgotten" ?? Also, aside from arriving at ORD early to facilitate any issue with the interlining... what should I have in hand at ORD to facilitate an efficient handling of getting the interline assigned??

P.S. Others have indicated baggage handling at LHR is less than stellar these days.... any opinions on whether (given I have a 12 hr window) I should just check bags to LHR, claim bags at LHR and recheck with SQ. I believe I have a 2 hour window on arrival at LHR that the SQ desk would be open for their morning LHR-SIN flight.

WheelsUpGal

Can't help you with the baggage issue, just think it's cool you are going East to get to Singapore. When I lived in Australia I would buy a RTW ticket out of London which was cheaper than a RT from my parents place in Connecticut. Smooth sailing to you!

jsloan

I've always felt the longer a bag was lying around, the more likely it was to get misplaced, but I've had bags make an 10+ hour transfer at LHR just fine, so it may just be my imagination.

Is it exactly 12 hours? UA may balk if it's more than 12 hours.

A copy of your itinerary, preferably including your ticket number, fare class, or both.

thejaredhuang

LAX-SFO-LHR on UA Basic
Lhr-Arn-Hel on SK Go Light (O) fare class

1st agent in 1k line didn't even attempt, 2nd newer agent tried for about 10 min, then got a senior agent to help. The last 2 agents were excellent and very persistent. The system wouldn't let them do it the normal way, SK blocks O from interline apparently.

Senior agent took over and manually did it in Shares I think, they mentioned something about arrow not being able to do it. Major props to the 2 that helped, the newer agent asked the senior to teach her how to do it in the future.

Sorry for the blurry image, text in red says invalid class of service for interline.

WineCountryUA

So you got an agent to override policy / fare restrictions

emcampbe

just have a copy of your SQ PNR and ticket. That’s all the agent should need.

note that whether your connection is 12 hours or less or slightly over 12 hours could be a differentiating factor. My understanding is by default, UA won’t check bags for over 12 hours between flights, with some stations being exempted from this - SIN is one, and I just had, with some difficulty, this done on a 14 hour connection (somehow, the computer was telling the agents that my SQ [regular economy] fare was ‘not a valid class’, but eventually, it got done, with persistence from the amazing agent and supervisor at SFO helping me. If your connection, is say, 12:05, they may not try or even be able to it if they do. So if that’s the case, I’d plan to have to go through customs at LHR to get the bag and re-check, but hope that you don’t have to.

on that note, note that even if SQ desk is open at LHR to check the bag with, they may or may not actually check it if your flight is not theoretically open for check in. SQ at SIN will accept bags within 24 hours of flight, IIRC, but not sure if that works at their other stations as well. May want to find out from SQ.

view

You got them to interline with a SK fare the specifically does not allow baggage unless purchased separately?

mahasamatman

With enough badgering, it can happen.

Brostman

There are 3 non-stop options.... the shortest connection is 9.5 hrs, then a 12.5 hr and a 14 hr connection. So the flight with the shortest connection might make the most sense strictly based on the less time the better the probability things go as they should...... This might be an award flight (given UA obnoxious pricing for a one way J tkt)... the shortest connection is pricing at a 13% premium in required miles compared to the two options with longer connections. Thank you for the insights.