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UA will not Short Check bags (but some loopholes)

Old Nov 25, 2016, 11:53 am
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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)

Originally Posted by Lux Flyer
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.
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UA will not Short Check bags (but some loopholes)

Old Jul 19, 2018, 6:55 pm
  #331  
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They can give you the luggage on the return flight as they have to claim in LAX before checking in for DFW.

Dallas to Los Angeles isn't really that far though - what luggage items do you need that can't be shipped?
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Old Aug 6, 2018, 1:56 pm
  #332  
 
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Travelling back as follows tomorrow
TPA - EWR award ticket seperate PNR

EWR - LHR P Class with onward connection to
LHR - ZRH. P Class all on one ticket

can I get a bag checked as far as LHR and no further?

thanks

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Old Aug 6, 2018, 2:12 pm
  #333  
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Originally Posted by Trappy
can I get a bag checked as far as LHR and no further?
How long is the stop at LHR? The answer is likely 'no' unless it's a long connection or an overnight.
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Old Aug 6, 2018, 2:14 pm
  #334  
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Originally Posted by StuckinITH
Or maybe I misread your question and you only want to check your bag to LHR. That should be easier for the UA agent but do you really want to deal with the luggage at LHR meaning that you have to get through customs.
OP is attempting to utilize hidden-city ticketing and still check a bag.
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Old Aug 6, 2018, 2:18 pm
  #335  
 
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Originally Posted by jsloan
OP is attempting to utilize hidden-city ticketing and still check a bag.
You quoted me too fast as I was attempting to remove my comment. Now it will stay there for eternity......
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Old Oct 13, 2018, 6:36 pm
  #336  
 
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Here's a different spin. A companion is flying with me to Costa Rica, business class. She is booked from SBA-DEN-SJO and I am DEN-SJO. Can she check one bag to DEN and another to SJO, so we can collect and store one bag in DEN for a future visit?
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Old Oct 13, 2018, 6:45 pm
  #337  
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Originally Posted by SnowBliss
Here's a different spin. A companion is flying with me to Costa Rica, business class. She is booked from SBA-DEN-SJO and I am DEN-SJO. Can she check one bag to DEN and another to SJO, so we can collect and store one bag in DEN for a future visit?
That’s called a short check and UA, in most cases, won’t do it. I assume she is on one ticket SBA-DEN-SJO.
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Old Oct 22, 2018, 12:17 pm
  #338  
 
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I just happen to come across this thread, however I almost always short check bags. I wanted to get clarification on this:

Background: I travel for business and always check 1 or 2 pelican cases which are toolboxes. On the most extreme days, I can hit multiple cities at a time with even more segments.

Example: ORD->IAH, stop for service call, IAH->DFW, stop for service call, DFW->IAH->ORD->HSV. Yes, this is pretty much a weekly occurrence for me.

My company uses Concur and with the above example, it was booked as a multi-city Day 1: ORD->IAH->DFW->IAH->ORD->HSV, Day 2: HSV->IAD, service call, IAD->ORD.

Am I getting lucky or is there something that I need to be doing differently in booking if my luck runs out?

Wednesday I am taking the following routing ORD->DEN->SAC, service call, SAC->SFO->LAX, service call, Thursday LAX->ORD.

However I have no idea how Concur/United has booked the ticket until I actually get to the airport. Typically once I show an actual gate agent what I am doing with all of my boarding passes, they will always short check, however the contract employees always claim "it can't be done".

I am platinum, on the quick way to 1k, if it makes a difference.
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Old Oct 22, 2018, 1:24 pm
  #339  
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? I don't have trouble getting bags short checked?
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Old Oct 22, 2018, 6:15 pm
  #340  
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Originally Posted by rj_flyer
I just happen to come across this thread, however I almost always short check bags. I wanted to get clarification on this:

Background: I travel for business and always check 1 or 2 pelican cases which are toolboxes. On the most extreme days, I can hit multiple cities at a time with even more segments.

Example: ORD->IAH, stop for service call, IAH->DFW, stop for service call, DFW->IAH->ORD->HSV. Yes, this is pretty much a weekly occurrence for me.

,,,,
You are likely being booked as a stop at each city you are doing a service call. Anything over 4 hours on a domestic trip is considered a stop and it would not be short-checking to check to the next stop.
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Old Oct 22, 2018, 7:39 pm
  #341  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
You are likely being booked as a stop at each city you are doing a service call. Anything over 4 hours on a domestic trip is considered a stop and it would not be short-checking to check to the next stop.
My experience as a former UA employee is that if all of that is booked on one PNR, the pricing module will lump things together for fare purposes even if it’s a long stop. And then how things work at check-in can be totally separate. So for the poster’s ORD-IAH service call IAH-DFW service call DFW-IAH-ORD-HSV, the pricing module may put ORD-IAH-DFW on one through fare. It will definitely break the fare at DFW since the next segment is back to IAH.

At check-in, that piece may consider DFW the destination out of ORD despite the long layover. But it also will break things at DFW due to the return back to IAH.

Years ago, I traveled as an employee on business in one day DCA-ORD-IND meeting IND-DEN-SFO. The layover in IND was over four hours. Despite that, I saw the manifest for ORD-IND and it had me listed as connecting to the IND-DEN flight. No checked bags so how that piece worked I have no idea.
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Old Mar 20, 2019, 3:44 am
  #342  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
You are likely being booked as a stop at each city you are doing a service call. Anything over 4 hours on a domestic trip is considered a stop and it would not be short-checking to check to the next stop.
WineCoutry, do you have a UA rule I can reference for the 4 hours as above. This morning in BUF (contract agents) I had to explain to them quite a bit of why I need my bags in BOS and then onto ORD this morning.

They were adement about 12 hours however I was able to explain why I run multi-city trips and that I was previously going last night however was delayed.

On another interesting note, the help desk will also walk agents through how to modify baggage destinations in Aero and NOT from within SHARES. This to me sounds like the knowledge base of SHARES is decreasing which will lead to extended times for the system to update.
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Old Mar 20, 2019, 11:41 am
  #343  
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Originally Posted by rj_flyer
...do you have a UA rule I can reference for the 4 hours as above. .
UA CoC

Definitions: Stopover

Stopover means a deliberate interruption of travel by the Passenger, agreed to in advance by the carrier, at a point between the place of departure and the place of destination.
....
For Domestic flights, a Stopover will also occur when a Passenger arrives at a point and fails to depart from such point on:
1. The first flight on which space is available; or
2. The flight that will provide for the Passenger’s earliest arrival at intermediate or junction transfer point(s) or destination point, via the carrier and class of service as shown on the Passenger’s Ticket; provided, however, that in no event will a Stopover occur when the Passenger departs from the intermediate/junction point on a flight shown in the carrier’s official general schedule as departing within four hours after arrival at such point.
Note just before this it states for International travel the rule is 24 hours.


Rule 23.A.5.e
5.Baggage will not be checked:
e. To an intermediate point unless the intermediate point to which the Baggage is to be checked is a permissible Stopover point at the fare paid (except if the Passenger is making a connection to the first available UA flight departing from such intermediate point and the connection exceeds four hours, the Passenger may reclaim his/her Baggage at such intermediate connecting point).
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Old Apr 12, 2019, 6:53 pm
  #344  
 
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Short check of luggage

Hello. What is the current situation with short checking luggage at a domestic connection point?
Flying as 1K from EWR. to SIN with connections in IAH and SFO; connection time in IAH of 7.5 hours by choice. Would I be able to check bags only to IAH and continue to SIN without checked bags? Thanks.
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Old Apr 12, 2019, 7:02 pm
  #345  
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Originally Posted by cagcag
Hello. What is the current situation with short checking luggage at a domestic connection point?
Generally if not an overnight or a port of entry (where you get your bags for customs) UA will check bags thru and not short-check. It is always possible the check-in agent will short check but that is the exception, not the norm.

For another discussion (for those wanting check-thru) see Overnight, long layover/connection check through baggage question (consolidated)
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