Nov 25, 2016, 11:53 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
"Short Checking" -- the practice of checking bags to a location short of your travel destination is no longer permitted by UA (and many airlines). It is believed one reason for this is to discourage "Hidden City Ticketing."
There are a couple of exceptions / loopholes
-- Over nights in route stays -- you are overnight at a connecting city.
Long layover/connection check through baggage question (consolidated) (>12 hours)
UA policy on connecting bags requiring recheck
-- Port of entry for USA arrivals
At most USA port of entries, you will have clear customs and you then can exit with your baggage (or recheck).
This does not work at IAD mid-field arrivals since must clear TSA to exit.
Also PreClearance airports (where you clear immigration and customs at the departure international city -- such as most Canada-USA flights and DUB and some Caribbean)
There are a couple of exceptions / loopholes
-- Over nights in route stays -- you are overnight at a connecting city.
Long layover/connection check through baggage question (consolidated) (>12 hours)
UA policy on connecting bags requiring recheck
-- Port of entry for USA arrivals
At most USA port of entries, you will have clear customs and you then can exit with your baggage (or recheck).
This does not work at IAD mid-field arrivals since must clear TSA to exit.
Also PreClearance airports (where you clear immigration and customs at the departure international city -- such as most Canada-USA flights and DUB and some Caribbean)
Default time is 12 hours. A small number of individual stations are enabled to allow bags to be checked thru for connections greater than 12 hours. Maybe we can build a list based on people's experiences for certain connection points.
I know FCO is up to 16 hours. SIN, HND, FRA, MUC, ZRH, BRU should all allow up to 24 hours.
I know FCO is up to 16 hours. SIN, HND, FRA, MUC, ZRH, BRU should all allow up to 24 hours.
UA will not Short Check bags (but some loopholes)
Jan 20, 2016, 3:01 pm
#226
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: *G^2, Bonvoyed, NEXUS
Posts: 3,516
They also have their native reservation/departure control system (in UA's case, SHARES) which are often text command-based. One needs to know the proper formats to accomplish various tasks which can be long and complicated.
So in this case, the GUI check-in system the agent was using did not allow them to do this. They had to go back to the SHARES command-line and enter a bunch of commands to accomplish this.
Jan 20, 2016, 3:08 pm
#227
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 2,474
Some software also has a command-line interface. For example, in Windows you can delete a file by pressing Delete after selecting it in Windows Explorer. You can also delete a file by launching a command window, navigating to the directory where the file resides, and typing some commands followed by Enter:
chdir C:\Users\MyUserName\Documents
del MyDocument.doc
The command-line method often includes features which aren't available in the GUI.
del MyDocument.doc
Jan 20, 2016, 4:43 pm
#228
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 796
Thanks for the explanations regarding GUI/command line. I have learnt something today.
I have an upcoming trip which I am curious how it will play out...
SFO-EWR on UA, then JFK-GVA on LX...with overnight in GVA continuing the next day onwards...
1) Will they tag bag all the way to the final destination but require me to collect it at EWR and re-check at JFK or
2) will they tag it only to EWR?
I have an upcoming trip which I am curious how it will play out...
SFO-EWR on UA, then JFK-GVA on LX...with overnight in GVA continuing the next day onwards...
1) Will they tag bag all the way to the final destination but require me to collect it at EWR and re-check at JFK or
2) will they tag it only to EWR?
Jan 21, 2016, 8:12 am
#229
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Thanks for the explanations regarding GUI/command line. I have learnt something today.
I have an upcoming trip which I am curious how it will play out...
SFO-EWR on UA, then JFK-GVA on LX...with overnight in GVA continuing the next day onwards...
1) Will they tag bag all the way to the final destination but require me to collect it at EWR and re-check at JFK or
2) will they tag it only to EWR?
I have an upcoming trip which I am curious how it will play out...
SFO-EWR on UA, then JFK-GVA on LX...with overnight in GVA continuing the next day onwards...
1) Will they tag bag all the way to the final destination but require me to collect it at EWR and re-check at JFK or
2) will they tag it only to EWR?
-RM
Jan 21, 2016, 8:50 am
#230
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
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Posts: 56,461
The UA kiosk spit out the luggage tag all the way to the final destination, so I asked one of the check-in agents to tag the bag only to ZRH as it was an overnight.
She refused to do it!!!
Saying that the computer did it automatically and she had no authority to decide on LX's behalf that the bag should be only tagged to ZRH.
She refused to do it!!!
Saying that the computer did it automatically and she had no authority to decide on LX's behalf that the bag should be only tagged to ZRH.
90% odds the LX agent rips off the UA tag with a slight look of disgust and replaces it with an LX tag
Jan 21, 2016, 4:42 pm
#231
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 796
They will be tagged all the way through, however you will have to carry them yourself from EWR to JFK. And whether they are tagged through or not, you must still go to baggage check-in for LX at JFK to drop off the bag. At that point LX may or may not re-tag your bag. They should be OK with using UA's bag tag but since you are checking in again I'm not 100% sure.
-RM
-RM
Jan 21, 2016, 4:48 pm
#232
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 796
Most of the agents at check-in counters these days are contract staff and really don't know how to do more than stick on a tag and throw your bag on a conveyer. They also tend to respond with hostility if you ask them to do anything more than that. If you get a real UA employee who knows what he or she is doing, they can absolutely short check for the overnight. In fact, UA's published rules say that's what they are supposed to do ("You'll need to claim and re-check baggage if you are . . . Making a connection that involves an overnight stay.") The agents at SFO international premier check-in, for example, would have handled this with ease.
90% odds the LX agent rips off the UA tag with a slight look of disgust and replaces it with an LX tag
90% odds the LX agent rips off the UA tag with a slight look of disgust and replaces it with an LX tag
Jan 21, 2016, 8:29 pm
#233
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Most of the staff behind the domestic counters at SFO are now contract.
Jan 22, 2016, 12:06 pm
#234
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Well, to clarify: people in polo shirts grabbing/tagging bags are contract staff. People in United uniform, tapping away on computers, are United employees. The ratio of people in polo shirts to United employees is 3 to 1, since most people use the self-service kiosk to generate bag tags.
The agent needs to manually construct the baggage tag in order to short-check the bag. Most of them will not do it because they should (and rightfully so 95% of the time) go by what the computer tells them. I had one case where due to IRROP, my flights were reconstructed as JFK-SFO-PDX, with an overnight in SFO. The computer spits out a baggage tag that checks the bag all the way to PDX, even when there's an overnight involved > 4 hours. The check-in agent refused to short check it, and had to get a supervisor involved to manually generate the tag.
The agent needs to manually construct the baggage tag in order to short-check the bag. Most of them will not do it because they should (and rightfully so 95% of the time) go by what the computer tells them. I had one case where due to IRROP, my flights were reconstructed as JFK-SFO-PDX, with an overnight in SFO. The computer spits out a baggage tag that checks the bag all the way to PDX, even when there's an overnight involved > 4 hours. The check-in agent refused to short check it, and had to get a supervisor involved to manually generate the tag.
Jan 23, 2016, 10:22 am
#235
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 796
Well, to clarify: people in polo shirts grabbing/tagging bags are contract staff. People in United uniform, tapping away on computers, are United employees. The ratio of people in polo shirts to United employees is 3 to 1, since most people use the self-service kiosk to generate bag tags.
The agent needs to manually construct the baggage tag in order to short-check the bag. Most of them will not do it because they should (and rightfully so 95% of the time) go by what the computer tells them. I had one case where due to IRROP, my flights were reconstructed as JFK-SFO-PDX, with an overnight in SFO. The computer spits out a baggage tag that checks the bag all the way to PDX, even when there's an overnight involved > 4 hours. The check-in agent refused to short check it, and had to get a supervisor involved to manually generate the tag.
The agent needs to manually construct the baggage tag in order to short-check the bag. Most of them will not do it because they should (and rightfully so 95% of the time) go by what the computer tells them. I had one case where due to IRROP, my flights were reconstructed as JFK-SFO-PDX, with an overnight in SFO. The computer spits out a baggage tag that checks the bag all the way to PDX, even when there's an overnight involved > 4 hours. The check-in agent refused to short check it, and had to get a supervisor involved to manually generate the tag.
Knowledge is power!
Thanks for all the inputs and infos.
Jan 23, 2016, 1:54 pm
#237
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 204
FWIW, recently when traveling non-rev, listed with an overnight (~10 hours) connection, we were asked to gate check our carry-on bags. The computer printed out tags all the way and when we said we needed the bags at the overnight, just hand-wrote the old manual gate check tags. Of course, this was non-rev and at the gate, not up front. But I did confirm with the CSR that bags are not supposed to be checked through an overnight connection anyway.
Apr 22, 2016, 5:29 pm
#239
Join Date: May 2012
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I had a 25 h stopover at FRA. The agent at the originating city could not check in my bag to my destination. So, I had to get my bag out at FRA and re-checked next day. So, I guess that this agent followed the rules and UA policy.
May 13, 2016, 10:56 pm
#240
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: SFO/CDG
Posts: 320
I tried looking through the thread, but didn't see anything for this type of situation.
A friend of mine asked me this question and I had no idea, so here goes. Flying a route like EWR-SFO-SMF with a checked bag but deciding to get off in SFO. The catch is that the friend lives near SMF, but doesn't want to wait for his connection. Reckons he can be home before the 2 hour connecting flight takes off.
What happens to the bag? Does it go to SMF, where he can pick it up on the carousel, or does it get taken off in SFO and go to baggage purgatory? It seems like a crapshoot, but since it's not an international flight, I don't believe there is a requirement that he be on board.I
The whole thing seems like a complete mess to me.
A friend of mine asked me this question and I had no idea, so here goes. Flying a route like EWR-SFO-SMF with a checked bag but deciding to get off in SFO. The catch is that the friend lives near SMF, but doesn't want to wait for his connection. Reckons he can be home before the 2 hour connecting flight takes off.
What happens to the bag? Does it go to SMF, where he can pick it up on the carousel, or does it get taken off in SFO and go to baggage purgatory? It seems like a crapshoot, but since it's not an international flight, I don't believe there is a requirement that he be on board.I
The whole thing seems like a complete mess to me.