WineCountryUA

Common issue with OS site for awards, you will get you *G allowance

Often1

What does your e-ticket receipt say? It will show the charges, if any, for the first and second bags. That is what the check-in agent will see.

BA_Jfan

WineCountryUA

That's what a Business Class passenger should get. *G should get you an additional 32 kg bag.

thedon

I am 1K and booked an award flight for my non-status daughter MEL-PEK-VIE-TLV.
The MEL-PEK leg is Air China and the others are Austrian.
The Austrian legs are showing 8KG hand luggage only when i access the booking on Austrian website (I understand that this is an IT glitch).
Air China allows 2PCS between Australia and Asia.
United confirmation shows 1st bag free and 2nd bag $287.

Will Air China likely allow the 2 bags all the way through to TLV, or will they check Austrian allowance?

findark

As United is not the operating carrier or really involved much at all, probably not the best place to ask this, but I'll give it a go...

As this itinerary does not touch the USA, the DOT rule does not apply and instead IATA Resolution 302 states that the MSC of the journey sets the baggage allowance. In this case that would be OS, since it operates PEK-VIE, the first segment to cross out of Area 3. OS defers to the marketing carrier if it is the operating carrier, but since this is a UA award the marketing carrier is also OS. Technically speaking, your allowance should be 1x23 kg.

However, CA may at its election use its own allowance if it is more generous (which it is), so it is possible but not guaranteed they will permit 2x23kg. That would be a question for CA.

thedon

Just to update CA allowed her to check 2 bags through to TLV. Much relieved.

Jade_BR

Hello FTers,

I just booked award tickets on UA for a VIE-CDG itinerary in January. The flights are on Austrian Airlines and Eurowings. The email confirmation from UA says one piece of checked luggage is free. However, when I try to manage the booking on the Austrian or Eurowings sites, the tickets are shown as "no checked luggage allowance". Has anyone found this discrepancy? I assume the carrier rules apply but it's a problem because you can't book award tickets in specific fare codes so it's impossible to know when you book whether luggage is included or not.


Update: I just got off the phone with the 1K Desk. I don't even know where to start. A supervisor got involved and after about 20 minutes, the answer was still "it's up to the carrier to set baggage rules". Am I the only person thinking it's weird that UA will "sell" a reward ticket to a passenger without having any idea OR communicating to the passenger whether they have free checked luggage or not? I'm glad I checked because I would have found out at the airport.

jsloan

The receipt is required by law to be correct (although it's sometimes wrong anyway). 1K desk supervisors aren't.

In this case, UA happens to be correct, and the other site is incorrect. For whatever reason, some other airlines seem to get very confused with United mileage tickets, and list them as "light" fares. Bag allowance for Austrian award flight booked with UA miles

Jade_BR

Thank you. I think the issue is further complicated by the fact that the flights do not originate in the US, therefore DOT rules are not applicable as far as OS is concerned. But I'm relieved to see that others have found it to be an IT glitch rather than policy. Thank you for pointing me to that thread.

On a related note I've seen quite a few posts about *G and the extra luggage allowance, but it's been my experience that luggage privileges do NOT apply for intra-Europe flights. Learned it the hard way when showing up for a SAS flight ARN-AMS and being charged 60 euro.

RobOnLI

This is completely false on its own. *G baggage allowance is absolutely honored on all *A flights, including intra-Europe. But we don't have enough info to help explain why you were possibly charged. Were you on a paid "light" fare intra-Europe? If so, no baggage.

-RM

aacharya

Award tickets are never light fares. Ignore the partners notes.

cfischer

If you do a quick search you will find this is frequently displayed incorrectly at partner airlines. Award tickets with EW and OS include a checked bag. Don't bother calling UA, their agents are clueless.

Kacee

Well known UA error.

Best explanation I've seen is by nerdbirdsjc: UA Award Ticket - Baggage Allowance on LX

FlyerTalker70

Baggage allowances when you have multiple partners operating your itinerary would depend on whichever airline is flying the majority of the distance. For instance, suppose your EuroWings flight is intra-Europe whilst the TATL portion is SAS. Then SAS baggage policy would apply for the entire itinerary since they're the longest segment in the itinerary.

Generally speaking, an award flight should book into a normal economy bucket for *A partners which may or may not have baggage allowance. I believe OS regular economy Trans-Atlantic gives you at least 1 checked bag gratis regardless of frequent flyer status.

Safe Travels,

James