Wrong Baggage Fee on partner flight
 

Hi everyone,

I recently booked a trip through United Airlines using MileagePlus miles, which included flights operated by Air Canada. At the time of booking, and during the time of all my flights, United listed extra baggage fees as $100 for United and Air Canada flights. However, when I checked in on my flight with Air Canada, I was charged $200—double the amount I was expecting.

I contacted United to address this issue and even provided them with a screenshot from the United app showing the $100 baggage fee information I relied on at the time of booking and flight. While they apologized several times for the inconvenience, they stated that they couldn’t reimburse fees charged by a partner airline and emphasized that United's baggage fee policies only apply to their own flights.

Despite my explanation and the proof I provided that the incorrect baggage fee information came directly from United, they ultimately responded with, “I’m very sorry we’re unable to reach an agreement to resolve this issue.” This feels especially frustrating because no actual effort was made to reach an agreement—they simply reiterated their policies and declined to offer any resolution.

Anyone had similar experience? Anything you would recommend to escalate or address this further?

Thanks!

File a Department of Transportation complaint

This may be an AC problem rather than a UA problem. Since the itin touches the US, the baggage policy of the first flights marketing carrier applies to the entire trip. Need to read the UA COC to see if their policy applies, or if they defer to the policy of the operating airline. If the former, AC was wrong; if the latter, UA was wrong.

edit: nevermind, I thought the first flight was UA marketed, this was some later AC flight, disregard

UA is notoriously bad about posting correct bag info. when partner airlines are involved. However, AC is no slouch in bad policy/comms itself.

As you mentioned this was an award, meaning the flight you checked in for would have been AC-operated and marketed, meaning their bag fees would have been applied, assuming you flew them first. As an additional point here, IME, AC Transborder flights booked with UA miles roughly 2 years ago used to get a free bag, but no longer do. They have updated some things.

in order to really know what happened here, need additional information. What was your full itinerary and who operated which flights? Were any of your bags oversize or overweight, which would add additional amounts to fees charged. Without the info, no one can tell you whether the charge was correct or not.

You are supposed to be able to rely on the information UA provided you. If they displayed erroneous fees, they should absolutely make you whole, via a DOT complaint if they won’t do it on their own. If AC charged you the incorrect amounts, you should start with them, moving to a DOT complaint and/or CC dispute if they will not make you whole.

$200 seems extreme for AC bag charges. Was that a regular 50 lb bag?

This is the important part. OP, check your email for the eTicket Itinerary and Receipt. It should have a section labelled "Baggage allowance and charges for this itinerary," under which you can find the 1st and 2nd bag charges, along with the applicable dimensions.

DOT rules state that airlines must give "correct, specific baggage allowance and fee information on e-ticket confirmations sufficient for consumers to determine the allowances and fees that apply to their travel, including travel on code-share and interline itineraries.... [T]he baggage allowances and fees that apply at the beginning of an itinerary must apply throughout...[and] must take into account the fees that apply to that itinerary."

If the above explanation doesn't yield results, then a DOT complaint should.

exactly why I mentioned weight/size of the bags. The fees are only for the bags within the dimensions each carrier allows for a 'normal' bag...oversize/weight fees will add to that. I agree that $200 seems excessive...even for AC...if it was within their size/weight guidelines.

Thank you all for your responses.

This was a regular sized, second bag. The fees in the attached screenshot are from the original ticketing email and they stayed the same in the app throughout my travel. I've clicked around on the links in the email and couldn't even wide any weasel language for them to say it does not apply, but doesn't mean it's not hiding somewhere I didn't consider clicking.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...693c7bb641.png

This is an economy class award ticket? Who operated the very first leg? Was that a UA nonstop flight? LH? Or a connecting flight, and if so, with whom?

Do you, or anyone in your traveling party, have status with UA?

How many passengers, and how many total pieces of luggage were being checked?

My initial instinct is to point the finger at AC, but I can’t do so definitively without these answers.

Economy ticket, first leg was United, next two legs are AC. Only me, no status anymore.

AC at the airport said that their fees are their fees and United is just wrong.

When I dealt with United on the phone at first, the lady did mention that it's a regular thing to show wrong info about partner flights. So seems like a problem they are aware of, just don't care.

OK, that seals it then. Provided that your bag was 50 lbs or less, as you stated, AC is incorrect, and you should file a DOT complaint against them, not UA. AC's baggage fees are completely irrelevant. Under 14 CFR §399.87, "For passengers whose ultimate ticketed origin or destination is a U.S. point, U.S. and foreign carriers must apply the baggage allowances and fees that apply at the beginning of a passenger's itinerary throughout his or her entire itinerary." It is UA's fees, which are correctly detailed on your receipt, that apply, by law.

Thanks! You think AC could argue that since it's an open-jaw booking, it resets somehow?

And I'll reach out to AC to see what they say for documentational purposes and go from there. To add to the mess, when I was paying for luggage on the first of the two AC flights, I paid $200 and they said "it's for both legs". Should have gotten it in writing somehow that it's for both legs even with 3 days in-between. And, of course, on the second leg it all of a sudden wasn't for both.

No. The guidance from the US DOT is quite clear, and unambiguous in this particular case, since you were staying in the same class of service the whole way and your ultimate ticketed destination was a US point (SFO). Even if they made some sort of argument that your outbound fare actually ended at YYZ, which would be contrary to common usage... AC's baggage fee on this itinerary is $100 for a second bag. $200 doesn't appear in their chart for this itinerary at all.

$200 total would have been correct, but they shouldn't have charged you for the second leg when checking in for the first.

Still am not clear on some things.

how many bags did you check? That is still missing.

If you checked two bags in PHX, and two in YYZ, you should have been charged $200 total - $100 when checking in at PHX on Dec. 5 and another $100 when checking in with AC in YYZ on Dec. 8. I’m not sure what ‘legs’ you are referring to. You had a stopover in Toronto, and any fees paid in PHX would not carry over to the flight back to EU. Had you been going straight from PHX to EU (less than 24 hours in YYZ), there would have only been one charge from AC.

just curious…what did you check on the original outbound flight in MUC, and what did they charge you?

Apologies if it's a bit confusing. On the outbound flight from MUC, I had only one bag, so no extra charges. I checked two bags on the flight from PHX to YYZ and then again from YYZ to MUC. So, should've been $100 per additional bag per segment for a total of $200 as you said, not the almost $400 I got charged.