Baggage on 2 different airlines

[klfrodo]

I asked this question months back. Just traveled and wanted to share my experience.

 

My question was:

I am traveling on 1 trip but taking 2 seperate flights on 2 different airlines and 2 seperate tickets, with all travel in 1 day. Will I have to reclaim baggage, recheck, and pay fees all the way.

Travel was AS from SEA to ATL then DL from ATL to CHS

The consensus on CC was NO. AS and DL had interline baggage agreements.

 

I believed you guys :D my wife??? skeptical to say the least

 

So, what happened?

 

Got to the AS ticket counter at SEA.

Showed them our DL boarding pass from on line check in.

Asked to check luggage thru to CHS.

They said "No Problem"

Computer on the other hand tried to tell them otherwise.

The agent didn't believe the computer, so she forced the luggage all the way thru.

Since we were up front for the AS portion, the luggae was free all the way thru.

 

When we got to CHS, my wife stood on a chair and proclaimed that CC and her husband were right and she was wrong. ;)

 

THAT will never happen again, thanks for the memories.

[frugaltravel]

Thanks for the report. That is the way it is supposed to work, and the way Alaska Air even says on their website that it will work. And, yes, you are always bound by the luggage requirements and charges of the first airline you check in with.

[pms4104]

Thanks for the report. That is the way it is supposed to work, and the way Alaska Air even says on their website that it will work. And, yes, you are always bound by the luggage requirements and charges of the first airline you check in with.

Except ... that the OP purchased two separate airline tickets and AS had no obligation to thru-check the bags. So, without that AS staff member fooling the computer, things would have turned out differently.

[frugaltravel]

Except ... that the OP purchased two separate airline tickets and AS had no obligation to thru-check the bags. So, without that AS staff member fooling the computer, things would have turned out differently.

 

Two different tickets is irrelevant. Alaska and Delta have "interline" agreements that say they will check luggage to each other's flights. I just did this recently with AS/DL and have done it with up to three different airlines on three different tickets with airlines who are not partners but have "interline" agreements. The key is patience, politeness and persistence. I have been told at least once that the airline can not check the luggage through to another airline. But when I remind them that they have an agreement with that other airline to do just that, and when I arrive at the airport plenty early so as not to hold up a long line (the agents get flustered in that case and might not want to help), I always get them to adhere to their agreements.

 

I stand by what I stated.

[6rugrats]

Except ... that the OP purchased two separate airline tickets and AS had no obligation to thru-check the bags. So, without that AS staff member fooling the computer, things would have turned out differently.

 

 

No, frugaltravel is correct. AS and DL have an interline agreement. Agents sometimes do not seem to be aware of the rules of their own employer.

[greatam]

No, frugaltravel is correct. AS and DL have an interline agreement. Agents sometimes do not seem to be aware of the rules of their own employer.

 

AS and DL are "partners" (marketing, FF) as well as have an interline agreement.

 

BUT technically, interline agreements are bound by the GDS (SABRE, Apollo, Worldspan, etc etc) and fare rules. AND interline agreements are DIRECTIONAL. So while AS/DL may have interline agreements FROM Alaska to Atlanta (hypothetical), there MAY NOT be a interline agreement from Grand Rapids (again hypothetical) through Detroit to Atlanta to Anchorage.

 

In AA's interline agreements and in SABRE, the exact wording is: AA MAY check baggage to: (a whole list of carriers, some of which are only available with PAPER tickets). A VERY good example is AA codeshare on Cathay (operating carrier's luggage requirements rule) continuing on to Siem Reap from Hong Kong on Bangkok Airways and return. Even though it is an AA codeshare and Cathay is a OneWorld Partner as well as partners with Bangkok Air, you CANNOT get your luggage checked OUT of Siem Reap to Hong Kong and on to the USA IF you BOOK the AA codeshare (again, operating carriers' rules for baggage apply). You can IF you book the same exact flight as a Cathay flight. It is all in the way the fare rules are written and how they are set up in the GDS.

 

The same rules apply to freight and when we move something outside our normal parameters, we must THOROUGHLY read the rules or we may have something highly perishable left at a connecting airport. One reason freight forwarders are paid so much and cost so much if you use them as a third party intermediary.

 

It is complicated and confusing. Schmoozing the agents generally has more to do with through checking luggage on complicated itineraries when the fare rules do not specifically allow it than actual knowledge or fare rules.

[Globaliser]

Two different tickets is irrelevant. Alaska and Delta have "interline" agreements that say they will check luggage to each other's flights.

No: The fact that the two airlines have an interline agreement does NOT mean that they will, or are obliged to, through-check bags when the "connection" is made on two different tickets.

 

This is demonstrated by the increasing number of airlines which will through-check a bag to another airline if you travel on one ticket, but which will not through-check if you are travelling on two tickets.

 

So, for example, if you fly BA from New York to Heathrow and Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow to Johannesburg, BA will through-check your bags if you do that connection on one ticket, but BA will NOT through-check your bags if there are two separate tickets. But there is definitely an interline agreement in place between BA and VS, and the restriction about two separate tickets was imposed unilaterally by BA, some time before VS did the same.

[greatam]

In post #6, I meant to state Vietnam Air, NOT Bangkok Air (I fly Bangkok Air. VN air is outrageously priced unless you buy in Vietnam). VN has an interline agreement with AA. BUT you CANNOT check your luggage OUT of Siem Reap on the AA codeshare with Cathay UNLESS you are booked on the CATHAY flight number. All in the GDS.