Originally Posted by jsloan

Maybe? In general, you can't check bags for another person, so if TG is willing to help, the person at baggage claim is superfluous, and if not, the person at baggage claim may not be able to help to the degree you'd like -- they may end up with the bags but having to pay hundreds of dollars in excess baggage fees, depending upon how many bags we're talking about here. Another consideration is that the person at baggage claim would be accepting responsibility for the contents of the luggage: are the two travelers both your family, or is it your brother and a friend or business associate, or...?

Absent a line at the transfer desk, I suspect that the largest amount of elapsed time will be waiting for the luggage to come out. So, it might be possible for both to go to the transfer desk and plead their case, and, if unsuccessful, hightail it to immigration and baggage claim.

Originally Posted by Kacee

I would not split up. I don't see any advantage to that, just additional potential headaches.

If there's award availability the next day, the worst case scenario is an overnight at ICN. That's not so bad.

Originally Posted by snowboardpunk

a night at ICN isn't terrible but they're visiting Korea not the way back using icn as a free stopover from UA award flight. the problem the next day is, the flight next day is ICN-NRT-TPE. UA is saying thats the only thing available. I have some Barclays points I can burn, fly them china airlines from ICN - TPE (40k points and a hotel would cost like 150-200 dollars?) later that night if nothing works out. Im just worried that if they don't fly the icn-tpe leg, will they cancel the rest of the award travel?

Originally Posted by snowboardpunk

Im just worried that if they don't fly the icn-tpe leg, will they cancel the rest of the award travel?

Originally Posted by Kacee

I would not split up. I don't see any advantage to that, just additional potential headaches.

If there's award availability the next day, the worst case scenario is an overnight at ICN. That's not so bad.

Originally Posted by snowboardpunk

thank you for the advice. they couldn't reroute the bags unfortunately. yea its not me flying but my younger brother and he's new to all this. I would have pushed to have the bags to Taipei. The check in agent apparently told them they're not in the same network but they're both apart of star alliance. frustrating as it is there doesn't seem to be another option if they can't make it. Ill tell them to see of the transfer desk can reroute the bags, even on a later flight and just go to Taipei without the bags and have them reroute it. Or just buy another ticket with another air china. The united agent over the phone told me they don't have anymore flights for the day on any airlines from icn - tpe, and have one flight the next day which is icn-nrt-tpe. which just adds so much more travel.

Originally Posted by Kacee

...The alternative of flying without the bag is risky because it was never tagged over to TG, and AC doesn't fly ICN-TPE, and likely relies on contract staff there....I would be very concerned about TG accepting responsibility since the bag wasn't tagged to them.

Originally Posted by emcampbe

I don't think Air China flies ICN-TPE - Air China is a mainland Chinese carrier. I think you mean Taiwan-based China Air. Though I'd highly recommend avoiding them. TG rebooked us China Air BKK-TPE last year when we badly misconnected ex-India. Horrible flight. If you thought UAs old 747s were bad, try China Air. I'd try EVA or Asiana if a new ticket is needed.



Agreed - there is no way I'd simply fly to TPE and try to claim it with TG upon landing if it wasn't tagged properly, especially since we're talking about different carriers. If it was checked with the same carrier, I night consider it. But no way in this situation - I just can't see any carrier taking ever tag for a bag that was never tagged with them.

Originally Posted by Kacee

I would not split up. I don't see any advantage to that, just additional potential headaches.

If there's award availability the next day, the worst case scenario is an overnight at ICN. That's not so bad.

Originally Posted by 1kBill

Here is what I would do if I was in the same situation:

1. Stop at the transfer desk and plead your case for having TG transfer the bag for you. Show them your ticket and explain the situation and try to get a quick yes or no answer. If the answer is no, don't argue, you don't have time.
2. If yes, move on through transit security and you should be good to go. (Make sure they get a bag tag receipt!)
3. If they won't transfer the bag, ask them for help on getting through immigration immediately and also ask them to alert the check in agents that you could very well be a late check in. If they won't help at immigration, have your itinerary available and ask one of the staff in the immigration area for assistance in getting through the lines quickly. Korean immigration is almost always very quick once you get to the agent. It's the lines that can be time killers.
4. Pray for quick bag delivery. Pick up your bag, go upstairs to check in level and check in.

Good luck to your travelers!

Originally Posted by jsloan

If they no-show a flight, future tickets would be cancelled -- so they shouldn't no-show. If things don't work out tonight, and they're going to have to spend the night, call UA and ask them to remove the leg that won't be used, preferably prior to its scheduled departure. There should be enough remarks on the reservation now that the agents should have some clue as to what's going on and they shouldn't try to charge any fees or anything.

Originally Posted by Kacee

While UA can update the reservation to remove that segment, it would be best if they used the coupon, as this is the kind of factset that sometimes generates "United canceled my return itinerary" threads.

Originally Posted by snowboardpunk

So united airlines and the agent at the transfer desk both said the bags are going to TPE but the check in agent at Pdx only printed the tickets to ICN, is there a way to tell who's right? if the tags just say ICN, is that where it goes? or do they scan every bag to be sure?

Originally Posted by snowboardpunk

yea there's an BR flight two hours later if it all fails that they'll try to get on, hopefully they can fly standby on that.

Originally Posted by snowboardpunk

Originally Posted by snowboardpunk

Originally Posted by snowboardpunk

So united airlines and the agent at the transfer desk both said the bags are going to TPE but the check in agent at Pdx only printed the tickets to ICN, is there a way to tell who's right? if the tags just say ICN, is that where it goes? or do they scan every bag to be sure?

Originally Posted by findark

If a TG employee claims the bags are tagged through to TPE and having them there on arrival is not a matter of life and death, I would just hop on the TG flight to TPE and claim back with TG if they are not there on arrival

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA

Both could easily be "correct". You don't need to be checked-in on a flight to have the bags checked to the destination. You will need to be checked-in for the bags to actually travel on the flight but that will be handled transparently to the travelers if you get on the flight.

Originally Posted by jsloan

They won't be able to fly standby on that, but they may be able to get a confirmed seat on it. If they mention standby, they'll just get confused looks. They should just say "is there any way you can put me on the EVA flight?"


They're supposed to scan every bag, and if it's been re-routed, they should pull and update the tag. Sometimes there is a difference between theory and practice, however, especially given that they're changing carriers.


If the bags don't show up in TPE, they should file a claim immediately with the BR agent there in TPE. They will arrange for baggage delivery. Barring some truly exceptional circumstances, the bags will be delivered at no charge to their hotel, or wherever they're staying.

Originally Posted by findark

If a TG employee claims the bags are tagged through to TPE and having them there on arrival is not a matter of life and death, I would just hop on the TG flight to TPE and claim back with TG if they are not there on arrival (wouldn't necessarily expect them to be). Ordinarily if the tag says ICN that's where the bag goes, but as noted that can be corrected and more importantly at this point us on FT are relying on a third-hand account (you said he said, or maybe you said he said and agent said) that the bags are in fact short-checked to ICN. Bags tagged to TPE would include "ICN" on the tag because of the transfer so lots of room for confusion there.

At the end of the day, he had a single ticket to TPE and if it's going to get down into hearsay, maybe he misunderstood any comment about a short-check.

Originally Posted by Kacee

While the two levels of hearsay are a bit confusing and unclear, I agree. If TG says they're tagged and going to TPE I'd go with that. It's not unheard of for carriers to slap a new tag on the bag when they're handed off at a transfer, and it's possible ground staff has done that.

Originally Posted by snowboardpunk

yea the agents said going to TPE and they even sent someone down to the baggage claim at ICN to retrieve the bags, unfortunately only one bag arrived... Seems the other bag is lost. To me the lost bag is at ICN, but well see I guess as they search for the bag. Hoping they find it ;(