FlyerGoldII

Inquiring through 4 different methods- I got 3 different answers.

flying tomorrow on AC issued ticket,

reno- Denver on ac codeshares on UA
denver - Toronto on ac
toronto- Ottawa on ac

i am a SuperElite with Air Canada - ie Star alliance gold

ua reservations agent said I am allowed 3 free checked bags


economy class ticket
ua customer service agent said I am
allowed 1 free bag

ua web site for star alliance gold - defaulted im terms of web site- 1 free bag

ua web site- add ac as marketing carrier 2 free bags

by the way - AC would allow me 3 free bags if I was checking in with them

WineCountryUA

As you are checking in with UA, your AC *G status will provide a single bag over the standard AC ticket allowance (without status)
Your elite bag allowance checking in with AC does not carry over to returning and checking in with UA.

This asymmetry of elite bag allowance when checking in on a different airline is common with *A --- you would have the same issue in europe checking in with LH, LX, ...
The carrier that you have status with will generally treat you better than other *A carriers.

FlyerGoldII

Checked one free bag.
But I found out that I was allowed 3 free (not even 2!) free checked bags.

How is this possible? - ie more than 1 allowed free checked bag for non UA Mileage Plus Star Alliance Golds.

Are Star Alliance Gold members allowed more than 1 free checked bag, if flying economy to an international destination?
Because it was an AC ticket- and first flight was really AC codeshared - so AC rules (of 3 free bags) apply?

WineCountryUA

DOT rules for travel touching USA, the first marketing carrier (AC) sets the ticket bag allowance.

But UA as the check-in carrier will provide *G one additional bag in addition to ticket allowance

FlyerGoldII

So AC as ticketing carrier sets the rules of 3 bags allowed for me?
Are you saying that UA will provide 1 free bag in addition to 3 bags allowed by AC.

What if I had booked through UA- the same itinerary? - would I be allowed one bag or more than 1 bag?
What if I had booked through a US or Canadian travel agent for the same itinerary - 1 free bag, or more than 1 free bag?

jsloan

No. The ticketing carrier is 100% irrelevant.

On a fare with a base allowance of three free bags, you'd get four as a *G -- but I don't think any such fare actually exists.

Did you buy a Latitude fare? Those include two bags, which would then turn into 3 with *G.

For flights that touch the US, the US DOT mandates that the policy of the first marketing carrier applies throughout the journey. (The marketing carrier is allowed to delegate to the Most Significant Carrier, but the MSC of this itinerary is AC anyway). If the first flight had a UA code, you would have gotten UA's allowance, which would have been 0 free bags plus one as a *G.

In no case will UA take your benefits with AC into account beyond the *G benefit. In other words, if AC allowed 18 bags to SuperElite passengers, UA wouldn't honor that.

WineCountryUA

How did you get the 3 bag number?
AC has a multiple bag allowance depending on your purchased ticket type, information you have not provided
All that can be said is UA will provide +1 over the unknown ticket allowance for the AC fare you purchased

Once we know the fare type you booked, that can be answered. But once again UA would provide +1 for AC *G over the ticket allowance.
The travel agent has no impact on the bag allowance

FlyerGoldII

I do not know the difference between marketing carrier and ticketing carrier.

I used Aeroplan points to book a latitude award. So AC was the ticketing carrier?


RNO-DEN was AC code-shared for my ticket. So AC was the marketing carrier?

From an AC point of view - any type of economy fare - from basic/standard to latitude fare - for a Star Alliance Gold member - would still give 3 free checked bags on its planes. This baggage allowance also is not impacted by the cabin (economy, premium economy, business class) that one is sitting in.- if one has AC status equivalent to Star Alliance Gold status (ie E50K, E75K, SE); also E35K had full free 3 free bags checked allowance.

WineCountryUA

While this appears to be jargon, it is crucial to answering your bag allowance questionMarketing carrier -- the carrier whose flight number is used in the booking. A UA-operated flight booked as an AC flight number is marketed by AC and operated by UA. Note each segment can have a separate marketing carrier designation.

The ticketing carrier is the carrier that issued the ticket and as an AC award the ticket was issued by AC, therefore ticketing carrier was AC. For a ticket, there is only one ticketing carrier.

Yes

But if this was an award flight are you sure the UA flight was a codeshare? Was the first flight listed as UAxxxx or ACxxxx (a codeshare) in your itinerary? Award flights are generally listed as native, operating carrier flight numbers.

If as mentioned earlier this was a latitude fare class with a 2 bag ticket allowance. Then as UA was the check-in carrier, UA increased the ticket allowance by +1 for non-UA *G ... making 3 bags.

You need to know all the individual pieces to determine the total allowance. Elite benefits make a fairly simple issue much more complex.

While this may be true, it is not relevant to your situation since your trip starts with a UA-operated flight. Your bag allowance is based on the ticket bag benefits (without elite status considerations) and then enhanced by elite benefits. However, any elite benefits are determined by the check-in carrier, UA in this case, which offers non-UA *G +1 bag benefit.

FlyerGoldII

I checked my ticket-yes, it was UA designated flight from RNO to DEN.

So the marketing carrier was UA on the RNO-DEN flight.

Per UA web site for a Star Alliance Gold Member on a UA flight in the economy cabin:

With an economy fare:

1st Bag

Standard: $0

Prepaid: $0

2nd Bag

Standard: $50

Prepaid: $50

Weight per bag
50lbs (23kgs)
Up to 62.0 linear inches (157cm) L + W + H per bag



Latitude fare is a AC concept- nothing to do with UA to my knowledge?


And for AC - although baggage allowance for latitude fares is 2 bags- that is for Aeroplan or non-Aeroplan passengers with no status.


For AC Star alliance Gold members on AC flights- it is 3 bags - irrespective of fare- from basic economy to business class fare. I believe that for non AC Star Alliance Gold members buying a latitude fare ticket on an AC flight, it may be 2 bags (but I am not sure on this point - you may tell me that if a Mileage Plus Star Alliance Gold member buys a latitude fare ticket on an AC flight- how many free bags- 2 or 3- is he/she allowed?)

So using your argument - marketing carrier is UA on first flight. UA baggage rules apply. Which means 1 free checked bag.

As AC is not marketing carrier- its allowance of 2 free bags for latitude fares for basic Aeroplan members or 3 free bags for Aeroplan Star Alliance Gold members- should not apply.

So using your own arguments, I am confused as to why I was allowed more than 1 free bag! Why was I allowed 3 free checked bags?

WineCountryUA

When checking in with UA, the AC elite bag benefits are not relevant

The UA bag calculator is for UA issued tickets, this was not a UA issued ticket, so the UA bag calculator is not useful

When checking in with UA and an AC-issued ticket, UA will honor the non-elite bag allowance as called our by the ticket fare rules. You said this was a Latitude ticket issued by AC, so that means two bags.

UA then will provide +1 bag for a non-UA *G

Believe that is how the 3 bag allowance was determined.

Unfortunately, each of these items needs to be known to determine the allowance for an elite of one airline to check-in with a different partner airline.

FlyerGoldII

interesting that UA would honour (honor) the ticketing baggage allowance (ie 2 free bags) of AC, but not the elite status allowance of AC (for me, it would be 3 free bags). I would argue it should be both or neither- UA should not be selective in choosing one compoment of AC bag's allowance, but not the other.

paperwastage

Not sure where you're mistaken

UA is complying with the stated DOT rules/law of your ticket AND honoring your Star alliance gold status?

AC Latitude fare = 2 bags free per your ticket (USA - Canada). applies to whole route. (DOT rule/law for this specific scenario, other scenarios can be different)
if you are star gold from anywhere, you get baggage waiver for +1, so 3 bags total


that's all it is.
United can choose to provide more generous baggage waivers for United Elites only when checking in with United while on a united ticket
But if checking in via another star alliance airline and flying that airline, United elites only get the standard StarGold +1 (or even +0. some LH/LX/NZ/... basic economy do not provide star gold baggage waivers)

modi

Hello,
by reading all the responses above, it seems United is more generous than Air Canada

Based on my experience (economy flyer from YUL with UA *G). over the past 8 years, I have flown several times on domestic routes where my check-in carrier was Air Canada on United's ticket (ticket starting with 016): each time I had to pay for the checked in bag $30 CAD for the first bag +35/50 for the second bag. This was systematic even on the more expensive/flexible economy tickets. (to be fair it's not a surprise at the airport, as I could see the bag fees on United once they confirm my tickets)
On the other hand, whenever I bought an air Canada ticket (ticket starting with 014), and used my United number at check-in, Air Canada always gave me the star alliance gold bag allowances. I had nothing to pay. I still don't get it

Example:

emcampbe

if you are * G, it shouldn’t matter who tickets or you are flying, as a *G, you should always get 1 free bag for allowance (even on basic economy fares) - as * rules require one free bag over any other free allowance. If AC is charging you at checkin for first bag, showing your premier card with *G should allow them to waive it.

the only exception to the 1 free bag is on non-US/Canada itineraries on international carriers, where instead of the piece rules, they generally charge by weight, and in that case, you should get +20KGs.