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On July 28, 2021 I was flying with my family from Istanbul to Amsterdam on Turkish, and then connecting Amsterdam to EWR, EWR to DFW. I was on my own one way ticket (All one ticket through United) in economy (United Platinum, *gold), and my 3 family members with award tickets booked together, no status, with United. We have 3 bags to check. My United ticket states:

Origin and destination for checked baggage
1st bag charge

2nd bag charge

1st bag weight and dimensions

2nd bag weight and dimensions

Wed, Jul 28, 2021
Istanbul, TR (IST - New)
to Amsterdam, NL (AMS)

0 USD

0 USD

70lbs(32kg) - 62in(157cm)

70lbs(32kg) - 62in(157cm)

Thu, Jul 29, 2021
Amsterdam, NL (AMS)
to Dallas, TX, US (DFW - All Airports)

0 USD

0 USD

70lbs(32kg) - 62in(157cm)

70lbs(32kg) - 62in(157cm)

I checked in the Turkish *Gold check in at Istanbul, and they work at it for about 30 minutes and then said, you have to pay for two extra bags for over $500. I showed them my United ticket stating my luggage allowance, and the station manager said you only get one bag being *Gold. My family’s award United ticket states luggage would cost $201 per bag.

Upon my return I wrote United, that Turkish did not honor the terms of my contract with them, and received a reply that very simply states United is not responsible for what Turkish Airlines does. I have no contract with Turkish, Turkish is an "agent" of United in this contract. If my United ticket with Turkish is not worth the paper its printed on, why would I ever buy a ticket on another carrier with United? I understand that there may be some clause that states terms of the contract with 3rd parties are unenforceable, but why would I ever buy another ticket with United for a *alliance partner? Imagine paying for a business class seat, and you check in and they said sorry, our computer shows economy, or sorry fights full, so buy another ticket for tomorrow. According to my tickets with United I should have been charged for one bag (of my 3) for $201.

RobOnLI

You are missing the very clear wording at the bottom of the chart within your e-ticket receipt from United that says the following:

Baggage check-in must occur with United or United Express, and you must have valid MileagePlus Premier® 1K® membership at time of check-in to qualify for waiver of service charges for up to three checked bags (within specified size and weight limits).

Since check-in occurred with TK then you are subject to TK's baggage restrictions for the itinerary. Having said that, when I look up IST-DFW in coach on TK's website it says you are allowed 2 bags in economy at 23kg per piece. *G gets an additional piece on top of it. So your argument here is with Turkish, not United. You should be contacting Turkish to get the fees refunded -- but I wish you the best of luck with that. I wouldn't hold my breath.

-RM

WineCountryUA

Welcome to FT!, Downgrade

Mixed carrier / elite bag benefits can be confusing

Your UA economy ticket bag benefit is one bag at 50 lbs and fees are determined by the check-in carrier

When you check-in with UA your Plat status provides 3 three bags at 70 lbs -- BUT you will only get this when checking in with UA.
When checking in with TK your Plat status / *G provided one additionally bag over the ticket allowance BUT just at 50 lbs

The DOT requires carriers to use the same bag allowance on the return BUT does not require the return carrier to honor the same elite bag allowance as the outgoing carrier.

So were your bags over 50 lbs?
The award ticket passengers should have also had a 1 bag at 50 lbs allowance.

That is only if the ticket was issued by TK, as the outbound and ticket issuer was UA, it would be just 1 bag (TK can use their allowance by not required)

IAH-OIL-TRASH

UA’s IT should get rid of that waiver language where waiver not applicable because some people just don’t read it and it creates confusion. Be nice if the luggage fee info that comes up is exactly is what is applicable to the itinerary and the passenger.

Downgrade

United's ticket should read, "fee for luggage (insert non United serviced airport) UNKNOWN"

I think their customers expectations would be more reasonable.

paperwastage

Their baggage table on the ticket email has sometimes been inaccurate, but no action from DOT.


(Via united.com, Ican buy LHR-EWR nonstop on united or LHR-FRA-EWR LH metal. Second one doesn't qualify me for the united Plat 3 bags, only the *G +1 bag. So your suggestion isn't clear either (LHR is served by UA and LH and AC)


The online baggage calculator is usually accurate, but also has the same fine print about checking in with United/united express versus partner

emcampbe

Not enough info. to determine whose bag rules apply.

for flights to/from the US, DOT rules apply, not IATAs MSC rules. DOT rules are that the rules of the marketing carrier of the first flight apply, based on the destination. TK operating the first flight is irrelevant, it is based on the carrier whose flight number is listed on the ticket. If the IST-AMS flight was listed as TK flight XXX, TKs rules, including *G benefit of plus 1 bag, would be honored. If the IST-AMS flight was listed on the ticket as UA YYYY, then UAs rules, plus *G allowance of plus 1 bag apply.

It’s clear the ticket email was not correct (and that is something you could use in any DOT complaint, IME). What is for sure is that when checking in with TK, UAs elite waivers do not apply, and so the 70lb. weight limit is the giveaway that this is incorrect. According to the bag calculator, IST-EWR, marketed by TK for a *G should still get 2 bags, but weight limit would be 50lbs. Is this potentially the place of disagreement?

smartytravel

This sounds like a DOT issue. I would send a note to DOT and attach evidence.

Irrespective of who operates, if your United ticket states that luggage is $0 for each leg of the trip, they need to honor this. Otherwise, it’s a misleading practice.

Send a complaint to DOT, and it will get resolved in no time.

myperks

so how many bags did you have? Appears that you have 3 bags over 4 tickets so shouldn’t have had extra charge unless overweight.

emcampbe

Not enough info. to determine whose bag rules apply.

for flights to/from the US, DOT rules apply, not IATAs MSC rules. DOT rules are that the rules of the marketing carrier of the first flight apply, based on the destination. TK operating the first flight is irrelevant, it is based on the carrier whose flight number is listed on the ticket. If the IST-AMS flight was listed as TK flight XXX, TKs rules, including *G benefit of plus 1 bag, would be honored. If the IST-AMS flight was listed on the ticket as UA YYYY, then UAs rules, plus *G allowance of plus 1 bag apply.

It’s clear the ticket email was not correct (and that is something you could use in any DOT complaint, IME). What is for sure is that when checking in with TK, UAs elite waivers do not apply, and so the 70lb. weight limit is the giveaway that this is incorrect. According to the bag calculator, IST-EWR, marketed by TK for a *G should still get 2 bags, but weight limit would be 50lbs. Is this potentially the place of disagreement?

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Again, if the info provided by UA to the passenger that $0 for each bag (ie because of a UA waiver) is only available at a United check-in counter, there’s no recourse with DOT. To put in in other words, a passenger can’t complain about a unavailable fee waiver at an non-UA counter if he/she was specifically advised (and it is clearly in writing) that the waiver was only available at UA ticket counters.

UA promises the bag waivers ($0) only at UA counters, not at each check-in point. Most frequent flyers have figured this out. I can check-in 3 70pound bags for $0 as a 1K w/ UA at SFO connecting to Maui on Hawaiian (same ticket) at Honolulu. Coming back, Hawaiian is under absolutely no obligation to provide the same waivers and UA’s normal bag charges apply. Hawaiian can charge me for all three bags plus an overweight charge, per UA’s normal fee schedule Scream at the DOT all you wan - it’s not going anywhere.

smartytravel

I learned something new today. Thank you for taking the time to explain!

sexykitten7

Just because the customer's wrong doesn't mean the airline's right. It is confusing. And quite possibly unfair and deceptive. UA really ought to get this right or stop doing it altogether! And with that being said, you can complain (and even file suit) about anything. I don't think an DOT complaint would be helpful per se, but OP can certainly file one!

jsloan

Sorry, but while I understand what you're saying, and I'd be tempted to agree, UA meets neither the spirt nor the letter of the regulation. The regulation states that the correct charge must be on the receipt. It does not give any wiggle room for misleading disclosures. Now, if UA listed the correct charge, crossed it out, and then printed $0, with the disclosure -- I'd agree with you. It'd still be borderline deceptive, but it would meet the letter of the regulation. (This is the design they used for their receipts until this most recent version).

On UA's current ticket receipts, it is impossible to find the correct luggage allowance listed anywhere. It's simply not printed there, and that's not allowed. OP should absolutely complain about this to the DOT as a case involving UA. The onus is on them to print the correct baggage allowance, not on TK to honor UA's incorrect receipt.

I don't know whether or not they'll give a cash refund, but an ETC seems like it should be a possibility.

OP: Here's the link to file with the DOT: https://www.transportation.gov/airco...umer-complaint It sounds like you made a good-faith attempt to get UA to resolve the problem, so I would feel no compunction about filing. I'd write something like "when I checked in for my return flight, I was charged $XXX for baggage, despite the fact that the only charge listed on my receipt is $0." If UA responds with something about Premier status waivers -- which they might -- I'd reply that you relied upon the receipt, and that the regulations require that the baggage charge be printed on the receipt.

paperwastage

If op wants to be technical, here's the rule
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/399.85

Also see: https://www.transportation.gov/airco...hecked-baggage

Neither says anything about the 3rd bag fee though

My recentish itinernary, the baggage quote has been accurate, so can't tell you how it looks like