May 7, 2022, 10:10 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Thia is a archive thread, the active tread is UA Bag Interlining If Separate Tix with *A Partners (YES) & Non *A Partners (NO)
See Interline Baggage Agreements (single ticket) when there is a single ticket.
When a passenger has two separate tickets, United will though-check (interline) bags only when the second ticket is for UA or *A partner operated travel. Otherwise, UA may not interline the bags and you will need to recheck bags for the second ticket.
With two qualifying separate tickets, when checking bags thru, you will need to present flight information for both tickets at check-in. This includes the itinerary, PNR and eticket number.
Note: Interlining two UA tickets seems to be challenging for some agents. Allow extra time for bag check, just in case, and perhaps suggest contacting the Help Desk if the agent seems to be having issues.
Interlining UA-UA may not be allowed if one ticket is Basic Economy and does not allow free check bags.
Thread on UA-UA bag interlining
UA.com link
Some conditions when UA may not interlining with another carrier on a separate ticket
Exceptions to the non-partner interlining restriction on separate tickets for 1Ks/GSs have been reported. There still needs to be a regular bag interlining agreement in place.
Additionally, one report suggests that exception would apply also to *Gs and Full Fare J passengers
Whenever checking a bag between carriers (on a single or separate tickets), it is recommended to show your bag tag to each downline carrier at the transfer desk/gate to ensure the bag tag information has propagated to their system.
related thread: Overnight, long layover/connection check through baggage question (consolidated)
See Interline Baggage Agreements (single ticket) when there is a single ticket.
When a passenger has two separate tickets, United will though-check (interline) bags only when the second ticket is for UA or *A partner operated travel. Otherwise, UA may not interline the bags and you will need to recheck bags for the second ticket.
With two qualifying separate tickets, when checking bags thru, you will need to present flight information for both tickets at check-in. This includes the itinerary, PNR and eticket number.
Note: Interlining two UA tickets seems to be challenging for some agents. Allow extra time for bag check, just in case, and perhaps suggest contacting the Help Desk if the agent seems to be having issues.
Interlining UA-UA may not be allowed if one ticket is Basic Economy and does not allow free check bags.
Thread on UA-UA bag interlining
Effective for travel on and after March 1, 2015, when a customer has two separate tickets, United will though-check bags only when the secondary ticket is for travel on the following carriers:
* United and United Express
* Star Alliance partner airlines
With the new policy, a passenger’s baggage will be checked between the origin and destination points that are reflected on a single or conjunctive ticket.
If the traveler holds a second ticket on another airline beyond the destination of the first ticket, United will check the bag to the destination on the first ticket(s). In such situations, the traveler must collect their baggage on arrival at their first ticketed destination, and then re-check baggage with the next carrier for their continuing flight(s).
* United and United Express
* Star Alliance partner airlines
With the new policy, a passenger’s baggage will be checked between the origin and destination points that are reflected on a single or conjunctive ticket.
If the traveler holds a second ticket on another airline beyond the destination of the first ticket, United will check the bag to the destination on the first ticket(s). In such situations, the traveler must collect their baggage on arrival at their first ticketed destination, and then re-check baggage with the next carrier for their continuing flight(s).
If you have a separate ticket on another carrier, you must claim bags at the destination of the first ticketed itinerary and check bags with the other carrier to the final destination. Baggage can be checked through to the final destination if the separate ticketed itinerary includes Star Alliance member airline-operated flights.
- The carrier is not a *A partner
- the connection is overnight
- the connection is less than MCT
- Traveling internationally and connecting to a domestic flight within your destination country
- If the UA ticket is Basic Economy No more "through checking" / interlining of bags when connecting from BE
Exceptions to the non-partner interlining restriction on separate tickets for 1Ks/GSs have been reported. There still needs to be a regular bag interlining agreement in place.
Additionally, one report suggests that exception would apply also to *Gs and Full Fare J passengers
Whenever checking a bag between carriers (on a single or separate tickets), it is recommended to show your bag tag to each downline carrier at the transfer desk/gate to ensure the bag tag information has propagated to their system.
related thread: Overnight, long layover/connection check through baggage question (consolidated)
UA Bag Interlining If Separate Tix w/ *A Partners (YES) & Non-Partners (NO) {Archive}
Sep 24, 2018, 11:18 am
#646
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Thanks. I'm still confused. What do you mean by onload above and beyond the original booking, and what do you mean by the LAS flight being full? Checked in full or oversold? Are you saying if the flight is oversold, my bag and I may not be put on it? Would that risk also be there if someone just paid $610 to book this all on one UA itinerary?
Should I expect the PPT staff to not only be able to through check my bag to LAS but also to give me a SFO-LAS boarding pass, and what's the consequence if they cannot give me the second boarding pass?
Should I expect the PPT staff to not only be able to through check my bag to LAS but also to give me a SFO-LAS boarding pass, and what's the consequence if they cannot give me the second boarding pass?
Sep 24, 2018, 11:19 am
#647
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Radisson Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 3,623
It's for the same reason that the fare goes to $610 when you try to combine it with the UA flight; there are end-on-end combinability restrictions on the PPT-SFO fare.
UA is engaging in a fare war here in order to try to get French Bee out of the CDG-SFO market. That's likely the entire reason for the SFO-PPT flight, in fact, and when French Bee pulls out of the market, there's a good chance UA will drop the route. Of course, they'd never admit this, because it'd be a clear violation of antitrust laws, but it's what's happening.
UA is engaging in a fare war here in order to try to get French Bee out of the CDG-SFO market. That's likely the entire reason for the SFO-PPT flight, in fact, and when French Bee pulls out of the market, there's a good chance UA will drop the route. Of course, they'd never admit this, because it'd be a clear violation of antitrust laws, but it's what's happening.
Sep 24, 2018, 11:38 am
#648
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,415
Thanks. I'm still confused. What do you mean by onload above and beyond the original booking, and what do you mean by the LAS flight being full? Checked in full or oversold? Are you saying if the flight is oversold, my bag and I may not be put on it? Would that risk also be there if someone just paid $610 to book this all on one UA itinerary?
This wouldn't prevent you from getting onto the flight, because you already have a ticket.
They should be able to get you an SFO-LAS boarding pass whether they can check you through or not. There are no consequences if they can't; you can use the app, or a kiosk, or a check-in agent at SFO to get another SFO-LAS boarding pass if need be.
Sep 24, 2018, 12:47 pm
#649
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Radisson Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 3,623
Zero inventory for sale, not checked-in full. In order to print PPT-SFO-LAS bag tags, the agent has to put a dummy SFO-LAS segment onto your PPT-SFO itinerary, making it look like you'd bought it that way in the first place. This is in addition to the SFO-LAS ticket you already have, which cannot be put onto that same itinerary. UA's computers will revalidate inventory at this point, so if SFO-LAS were sold out, they'd need to get the help desk to force it, because the computer would refuse, saying the flight was sold out.
Sep 24, 2018, 1:35 pm
#650
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,415
Thank you for explaining. Now I get it. I do have one more question if you don't mind, since you seem to know everything. There are also connecting flights on AS from SFO to LAS, which may be cheaper and have better connection times?. Why can't I book PPT-SFO-LAS on a single ticket using AS as the domestic connection on any online websites? I see that AS is an interline partner of UA. Is it just a matter of "UA and AS don't combine flights on this route"?
I don't mind, but I certainly don't know everything.The reason is basically what you said -- UA and AS don't combine flights on this route. Most of UA's discount international fares are coded to disallow an end-on-end combination with any other fare. That means, you can't hook up the SFO end of the PPT-SFO fare with the SFO end of a SFO-LAS fare at all (UA or otherwise). These rules apply any time you're trying to get flights onto the same itinerary; they have to be combinable with all other flights on the itinerary.
Sep 25, 2018, 6:23 am
#651
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: EWR, NJ
Programs: UA 2 MM, UA 1K
Posts: 663
Zero inventory for sale, not checked-in full. In order to print PPT-SFO-LAS bag tags, the agent has to put a dummy SFO-LAS segment onto your PPT-SFO itinerary, making it look like you'd bought it that way in the first place. This is in addition to the SFO-LAS ticket you already have, which cannot be put onto that same itinerary. UA's computers will revalidate inventory at this point, so if SFO-LAS were sold out, they'd need to get the help desk to force it, because the computer would refuse, saying the flight was sold out.
This wouldn't prevent you from getting onto the flight, because you already have a ticket.
They should be able to get you an SFO-LAS boarding pass whether they can check you through or not. There are no consequences if they can't; you can use the app, or a kiosk, or a check-in agent at SFO to get another SFO-LAS boarding pass if need be.
This wouldn't prevent you from getting onto the flight, because you already have a ticket.
They should be able to get you an SFO-LAS boarding pass whether they can check you through or not. There are no consequences if they can't; you can use the app, or a kiosk, or a check-in agent at SFO to get another SFO-LAS boarding pass if need be.
Sep 25, 2018, 10:07 am
#652
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I wonder if they could long sell it when adding the segment?
Sep 26, 2018, 11:24 pm
#653
formerly 1984SW
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
Programs: UA
Posts: 1,058
I found out the hard way that this is how they interline bags. While at EWR last month I asked them to interline my bag to SQ at SIN (my final UA destination). She tried and said it wouldn't let her. Told me the flight was sold out and then explained that they have to "purchase" a ticket, include that leg into UA reservation, run the tag, then remove it. She then tried business class and that worked but she still couldn't run the bag. Then she tried one other thing and that didn't work. I wasn't worried because I could get the SIN transfer desk to pull the bag onto the next flight. But 14 hours before my return flight home from SIN I discovered that she had accidentally also removed my UA SIN-SFO leg leaving me with just SFO-EWR. Luckily when the US call center opened they managed to get us on to the return via LAX.
On Apollo the usual way to manually add a segment (versus selecting it from an availability display) was to send it with a NN or SS ("need" or "sell") action. That would only really work, though, if the flight was still available for sale.
An alternate option to add a segment without sending a message to the other airline, though, was to enter the segment directly as HK ("confirmed"), but that could have unintended circumstances.
Then, finally, they added GK ("group confirmed") that was originally intended for group bookings but became a nice alternate to add to regular reservations without any message -- ever -- being sent to the other airline. Does SHARES not have some similar entry to Apollo's GK? For SHARES-proficient readers, the Apollo entry was: 0SQ123Y25DECSINBKKGK1 . (Apollo used 0 or 0: as the segment prefix. I worked on PARS, too, and ISTR they used 4, so not sure what SHARES uses.)
Sep 26, 2018, 11:45 pm
#654
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Somewhere I've Driven To
Programs: HiltonHonors, IHG Hotels, DL Skymiles
Posts: 2,070
(A disclaimer: I'm a dinosaur ex-reservations agent who was proficient on Apollo up until it's demise after the UA/CO merger.)
On Apollo the usual way to manually add a segment (versus selecting it from an availability display) was to send it with a NN or SS ("need" or "sell") action. That would only really work, though, if the flight was still available for sale.
An alternate option to add a segment without sending a message to the other airline, though, was to enter the segment directly as HK ("confirmed"), but that could have unintended circumstances.
Then, finally, they added GK ("group confirmed") that was originally intended for group bookings but became a nice alternate to add to regular reservations without any message -- ever -- being sent to the other airline. Does SHARES not have some similar entry to Apollo's GK? For SHARES-proficient readers, the Apollo entry was: 0SQ123Y25DECSINBKKGK1 . (Apollo used 0 or 0: as the segment prefix. I worked on PARS, too, and ISTR they used 4, so not sure what SHARES uses.)
On Apollo the usual way to manually add a segment (versus selecting it from an availability display) was to send it with a NN or SS ("need" or "sell") action. That would only really work, though, if the flight was still available for sale.
An alternate option to add a segment without sending a message to the other airline, though, was to enter the segment directly as HK ("confirmed"), but that could have unintended circumstances.
Then, finally, they added GK ("group confirmed") that was originally intended for group bookings but became a nice alternate to add to regular reservations without any message -- ever -- being sent to the other airline. Does SHARES not have some similar entry to Apollo's GK? For SHARES-proficient readers, the Apollo entry was: 0SQ123Y25DECSINBKKGK1 . (Apollo used 0 or 0: as the segment prefix. I worked on PARS, too, and ISTR they used 4, so not sure what SHARES uses.)
Trust me, SHARES did not have a similar entry to Apollo's GK or HK at the time of the merger. Disclaimer - they might have that ability now with their new/enhanced system?. I remember right after the merger having to call the CO help desk to do this for an interline bag tag and they didn't know how to do it - unlike Apollo, they simply had no HK or GK entry that could be forced into the PNR nor did they have a way to issue a through bag tag for two separate PNRs......The only thing they could attempt was to actually sell the needed segment into one or the other PNR (but in this instance no more seats were available to "sell"). I think the passengers had to get it fixed or squared away at the connecting point - They were furious to say the least.
oops, I see from comment #651 and their experience from only a month ago that this is still the case ?
Last edited by FlyingNone; Sep 27, 2018 at 12:14 am
Sep 27, 2018, 12:13 am
#655
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Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2013
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I recall trying to interline to CM shortly after the merger. Multiple agents clustered around the terminal for over half an hour . . . couldn't make it work, we bumped into the bag-check cut-off. Had to pick up my bag at PTY and recheck.
Sep 27, 2018, 12:22 am
#656
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Somewhere I've Driven To
Programs: HiltonHonors, IHG Hotels, DL Skymiles
Posts: 2,070
It was such a simple and very fast entry in Apollo - we could interline bags by GK-ing or HK-ing the needed flight into the PNR. Because the segment needed was not newly sold (GK or HK was a passive entry), the tag could immediately be issued and no need to remove the segment lest it somehow interfere with anything else. This took all of or less than one minute yet you had to wait for over half an hour after the merger for something they couldn't do at all ?? - talk about futility.
Sep 27, 2018, 12:59 am
#657
formerly 1984SW
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
Programs: UA
Posts: 1,058
UNbelievable that SHARES won't let agents enter HK segments. Over 40 years ago Apollo had that ability. GK probably came into being about 35 years ago.
Sep 30, 2018, 1:30 pm
#658
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: National EE, Hyatt Discoverist, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 508
Checked Baggage Question
My upcoming flight originates on United Airlines AUS-IAH, and continues on SQ, IAH-MAN, on two separate itineraries. Would it be possible for UA to interline my luggage at AUS all the way to MAN?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Sep 30, 2018 at 1:59 pm Reason: merged into master thread
Sep 30, 2018, 1:58 pm
#659
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
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Posts: 66,859
Oct 4, 2018, 7:06 pm
#660
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 156
UA/Thai baggage agreement?
We are flying on two separate flight tickets On United to BKK and then on Thai to Nepal.
Do these two airlines have a luggage agreement so that we can have the bags checked out all the way to the final destination?
Thank you
Do these two airlines have a luggage agreement so that we can have the bags checked out all the way to the final destination?
Thank you