findark

I don't believe so, no. Similarly on NZ, awards (indeed any ticket issued to a US POS) book into the "full service" fare type equivalent.

SF1K

Just wanted to check-in on this. We also have Swiss Air flights booked (ZRH-HAM), and it is booked through United Mileage Plus. It booked into X and the receipt from United shows 1 bag free of charge. On Swiss it doesn't show any. So I'm assuming this is that same "glitch" and that also as Premier Platinum (Star Alliance Gold) we would both get a 2nd bag free of charge as well?

What about seat assignments? Wouldn't an award booking in Classic Fare also include a free seat assignment?

Thank you

sannmann

gldwebs

Just spent a good 30 minutes on the phone with a UA GS rep. Apparently, LX considers a UA saver award ticket as their "light" product (equivalent to basic economy) and will not offer any checked baggage. Has anyone had experience with this issue? If an award ticket doesn't allow checked bags, this sounds like another big de-valuation here.

Update - I should add the the United ticket receipt claimed I would get 1 free bag on the flight for everyone. The GS rep rebooked me on the flight out from MXP through EWR instead of on LX all on UA metal in Y. At least I dont have to worry about bag questions (my wife does NOT travel light).

findark

Partner Economy awards (X) are considered to be non-Basic Economy (or local equivalent) on all carriers that I know of. It's known to have display issues with the LH group but unless there has been a recent change, X fares get the standard baggage allowance plus one for *G.

aCavalierInCoach

by basic economy do you mean all the other restrictions besides not including a baggage allowance? GS confirmed with me that, for instance, flying AC you're basically getting a Tango fare -- 0 baggage allowance + 1 for star gold. pretty disappointing as a GS to get slapped with a $50 or whatever bag fee flying shorthaul out of BC down to the bay area...

gldwebs

Exactly - was told you get treated as if you have the airline's equivalent of basic economy (which even UA doesn't do if you book a saver award...yet). No advance seat assignments, I would get 1 bag for star gold, but the family would get zero. Since I am traveling with my wife and kids, I figure I would get hit with at least $400 in bag fees (or more - depending on how much the wine weighs). Instead, I am paying an extra $150+ to take a train to Milan to stay on UA.

Lesson for the future - only book business class or UA metal.

findark

It's a little complicated with all the carriers and products... AC Tango is not really the same as LH Light or UA Basic Economy. It looks like AC has realigned their names, and an X class ticket should be "Economy Standard" and not "Economy Basic" (includes a checked bag TATL, but not within North America, as would be standard for a discount Economy fare). Similarly, with LH Group carriers, X is Economy Classic, instead of Economy Light, and should include the legacy standard bag allowance (but not whatever the Flex/full fare allowance might be). Also, it's worth noting that most LH Group carriers permit zero free bags on a Basic fare even if you are *G. LH proper is still allowing it "as a temporary courtesy" last I read their website, but they've added a loophole to the alliance rules about the baggage benefit to exempt zero-bag fares, and it's clear they're going to drop the courtesy soon.

Now, some of my knowledge here could be out of date since this has been changing a lot recently, but if TATL Economy awards stop having free baggage I think we would have heard more.

jumpingenes

I believe (based on experience and information provided in another thread on here) that the display of economy class type on other airlines booked using United MP miles is wrong on all LH/LX/OS etc. Essentially you should go by the luggage allotment noted on the united ticket (reservation) and that's what ends up happening at check in.

TL: DR You'll get the first checked bag for free on LX/LH/OS if on an award ticket from United.

fatlasercat

This has been discussed before. The Swiss website shows 0 bags included, but it is wrong. Even for business class awards it shows that, but once you check in all is good (at least as of summer 2018)
UA Award ticket booked Economy X Light on Swiss? Bag allowance?

Kacee

Were you actually told this at the airport by an LX rep? Because unless and until you are, it's just a display error.

Enigma368

Like most people here, I would always take what a phone agent says with a huge pinch of salt.

A lot of the time they really don't know the answer and just guess. I had an Alaska agent who booked me a CX operated award from HKG to SFO but insisted that I could not add on a connecting Alaska domestic flight to LAX even though this is definitely allowed by their rules. I had to really push her to check with someone else and then she came back after 20mins and said sheepishly that it was allowed. More often than I would like, the agents don't even know their own rules.

mherdeg

What was your original routing (MXP-ZRH-xxx) and what did the United phone agent rebook it to (MXP-EWR-xxx)? Did they rebook it for free (no extra mileage cost)? Is the new routing one you prefer?

Was there already United saver award inventory available on the flight before your call or did the phone rep force it open during your call?

Is it possible that the UA GS rep intentionally misunderstood their partner airline's baggage fees in order to have a customer-service-related reason to give you a preferred routing without charging you any extra miles? Maybe they were doing you a favor and biting their tongue while intentionally spewing lies in case anyone ever reviewed the recording? This could actually have been a very customer-friendly customer service gesture.

That's my most customer-friendly interpretation. It's also possible you got a confused or misinformed agent, albeit one who meant well.

I once -- back when United manually ticketed awards formed by segments which individually had inventory -- talked with an agent who refused to ticket BOS-ORD-TPE-SIN-PER because "we can only have 3 connections on this routing, not 4 connections". Sometimes you just gotta hang up but I stuck it out for a few extra minutes and both this agent and their supervisor insisted upon close examination that (a) BOS-ORD is a 1 flight journey which is nonstop and has no connections; (b) BOS-ORD-TPE is a 2 flight journey which has 1 connection; that (c) BOS-ORD-TPE-SIN is a 3 flight journey which has 2 connections; and that (d) BOS-ORD-TPE-SIN-PER is a 4 flight journey which has 4 connections, which is too many (you can only have 3). It was a flabbergasting experience. It was the only time I have ever had a phone call with a customer service rep who pretends that the call dropped (she began a sentence then became almost completely silent). I waited 4 minutes for her to talk again and she finally gave up on the subterfuge and said "hey was I waiting for something sir? are you there?". It was such a bad but hilariously memorable phone call, it cemented HUACA into my mind forever.

Kacee

Unless OP comes back and tells us he was denied a free bag at LX check-in, suggest mods change the thread title (or merge into thread linked above).

gldwebs

I'm still here (literally and figuratively). UA GS rep got the Lx rep on the phone with us and said it would be no bags. Maybe at the airport it would have been a different story, but I was not in the mood to take the chance. After the lx rep disconnected, we discussed ways around it. There was saver from MXP to EWR but all EWR to ord flights were full. She offered to open space on the EWR ord segment to allow a change. It's not ideal since now I have to take a train from Florence to Milan and spend Friday in Milan instead of taking a train to cinque Terre, but there are worse outcomes. With the amount of wine I have, the baggage allowance is worth it.