[PUMA]

Do You Like To Check Baggage Through To Your Final Destination?

Airline alliances the world over were supposedly created to foster seamless connections by (for instance) allowing passengers check their bags all the way through to their final destination even if their journey involves multiple alliance member airlines and regardless of whether they are on the same ticket or not.

Common sense, or so you would think! But British Airways in all their wisdom have now decided that passengers flying solely on BA flights but on separate tickets can NOT check their bags all the way through to their final destination because (apparently) these are 2 different tickets with 2 different “contracts” and therefore different levels of responsibility for the airline with regards to getting your bags from point A to point B.

Now if travelling with BA from Edinburgh to Singapore via Heathrow (as we frequently do), but on separate tickets, passengers must disembark in Heathrow, pick up their Edinburgh checked bags and check them in to Singapore, and of course go through security all over again. We are yet to discover what happens if we are connecting onto an alliance member’s flight that is not part of the same ticket.

So, several questions spring to mind: Which “McKinsey-ite” sat down and came up with this revenue generating scheme that impacts and inconveniences most transiting passengers? Also, in this ultra-competitive industry, is this the best tactic BA can think of to win customers loyalty? Or is this just a ploy to keep check in staff more gainfully employed, at the expense of passengers?

[Travellator]

My experience of this is that the enhancement is NOT practised. Recent trip on BA from a region via LHR to HKG on seperate tickets bags checked through both ways albeit with a little extra effort by the check in staff at the region.

[Ahmad]

@PUMA,

To my mind it is a simple matter of contract. You contract with BA to fly yourself and baggage from Edinburgh to London. You also contract with them to fly yourself and baggage from London to Singapore but by way of a differently conditioned agreement. If they take your baggage from you at Edinburgh for delivery at Singapore, which the terms of your contract from Edinburgh to London do not entitle you to, well and good. But this will be extra-contractual, i.e. BA is not obligated to do so. There are sound legal reasons for this. What immediately comes to mind is if, for any reason, you decide not to take the London to Singapore flight. What would happen to your baggage and to what extent would BA be contractually responsible for the same? Similarly, if your incoming from Edinburgh is late, you barely have enough time make the onward flight yourself, but there isn’t enough time to transfer your baggage. What would BA’s contractual liability be in relation to the said baggage? If your baggage is damaged/lost in transit, the terms of which contract would be applicable and would you get the benefit of the Warsaw Convention of 1944? All of this would, of course, not be in issue if you had contracted with BA to fly yourself and baggage from Edinburgh to Singapore by way of the same contract.

So, in my opinion, if BA lets you through check your baggage, consider it a favour, count your blessings and hope you get the baggage in Singapore on time and in the same condition as you handed it in at Edinburgh.

[onajetplane]

My recent experience is that they are strict about this policy. On 3 recent separate trips to London on BA, attempting to have my bags checked through to a separate domestic ticket on BA, all 3 occasions were refused (BEY, DXB and ORY).

It is such a shame but begrudingly I can see the logic – recently I had a tfn – mad – lhr ticket with iberia and then a separate onward domestic connection with BA. Iberia agreed to check my bags the whole way through. They then proceeded to somehow mess up and only send my bags to heathrow. End result, my claim for essentials had to be paid by BA. So I can see the logic, yet they are bucking a trend which will surely make them even more unpopular.

[MartynSinclair]

I know this a baggage question, but how much time are you allowing for the connection. What would happen to LHR-SIN sector, if your EDI-LHR was cancelled or was late…?

[mkcol74]

With a very big smile, and a pleasant demeanour, I asked at MCO if it was possible to through-check my bag to LHR (via AA & BA at MIA on separate bookings) just 2 months ago. I didn’t even have my 2nd booking ref to hand but after just a couple of minutes the guy at the AA check-in desk had it all sorted.

It seems there’s a rule, and exceptions to the rule.

[greyhawkgeoff]

I would concur with mkcol74,’ with a very big smile and a pleasant demeanour’. I have had the benefit of two check in agents booking through on separate tickets on two different airlines that were not even in the same alliance.
In Penang the Thai agent found a way after searching his book to book bags to Bangkok and then through to Heathrow on Qatar, and perhaps even more surprisingly a Delta agent at Tampa who knew immediately how to book my bags through to Heathrow via Atlanta on BA!
Whether a bit of status with the first airline involved helps is of course possible, as I have some gold plastic with both, but the moral is….just ask and be prepared to get the thumbs up or down.

[Ahmad]

[quote quote=781942]I would concur with mkcol74,’ with a very big smile and a pleasant demeanour’. I have had the benefit of two check in agents booking through on separate tickets on two different airlines that were not even in the same alliance.
In Penang the Thai agent found a way after searching his book to book bags to Bangkok and then through to Heathrow on Qatar, and perhaps even more surprisingly a Delta agent at Tampa who knew immediately how to book my bags through to Heathrow via Atlanta on BA!
Whether a bit of status with the first airline involved helps is of course possible, as I have some gold plastic with both, but the moral is….just ask and be prepared to get the thumbs up or down.

[/quote]

That is exactly the method I employ. Ask nicely and if necessary, insist politely. Usually a way is found if the level is raised. Once a manager at Changi actually got two tickets on QR consolidated into one, by whoever at QR HQ could do it, when all other attempts to book my luggage through to DXB failed. It meant waiting around 15 minutes extra at check-in but was certainly worth the effort. But as I said in an earlier post, it is a favour not a right.

[PUMA]

I fully agree and appreciate that a smile goes a long way, as does taking the matter up with a manager, and it has worked on many-a-flight before, whether with the same airline, with different airlines of the same alliance or even with different airlines on different alliances. It is not that it is physically impossible (or that the system won’t allow it, as is sometimes claimed), but that it is down to the discretion of the individual receiving the bags and printing the luggage tags. Afterall if you book a ticket with expedia on multiple airlines, your bags can be treated according to your wishes.

But my gripe with BA (and I have to admit to having flown nearly 700,000 miles over 15 years with them, if my “flightpath” history is to be believed) about the “legalities” still remains: they are the same airline, whether it is their first flight that is responsible for damage or loss to my baggage, or any subsequent flight, it is the same airline that has to compensate me, not a separate legal entity. And I know full well (and accept) any problems ensuing from not allowing enough connection time between flights. I NEVER book flights with a connection time of less than 1 hour within Terminal 5 and 2 hours between Heathrow terminals, even if only because I don’t want to be the one rushing from gate to gate all hot and bothered, regardless of my luggage’s connection time. Even when it has been the case that the connection time was too short (due to a delay on the airline’s part), it has been explained to me that my bags won’t make the connection and I’ve suffered the consequences.

It simply boils down to this: it is a highly competitive industry and ALL airlines should be looking for how to make passengers journeys more stress free, regardless of cabin, or loyalty club status, if they want to remain relevant.

[MartynSinclair]

I also have a “we are the One World happy family” issue

I am currently sat in the (fabulous) CX lounge in BKK, waiting to go to HKG and then on to London. I got here a little early and as soon as I entered the lounge, I heard the first boarding call for an earlier flight to HKG.

So I asked, with a very nice smile could I change to the earlier flight… and yes I was fully aware, my ticket’s T & C’s allow changes only with a cost.

The answer was no.. the reason given…………your ticket was purchased through BA and CX is a different airline…. No changes, sorry….

So I’ve just gone back to the bar…

(reason I wanted to get to HKG earlier was to get some decent food in the FABULOUS Pier lounge instead of risking BA’s food….)

[Ahmad]

@PUMA,

Unfortunately they are in the right regarding “legalities” I’m afraid. Without boring everyone with details, BA’s baggage liability under the international ticket is governed by the Warsaw Convention 1929 while under the domestic ticket it is not. Simple language, liability for domestic is less than that for international. If you had one ticket, the whole journey would be considered international. Technically it would be possible to determine liability depending on which journey the problem, if any, occurred. But it would be a nightmare to allege and prove or for that matter defend. A boon for lawyers but very tedious costly and time consuming for everyone else!

[Ahmad]

For those who are interested in the legal niceties (pun intended):

https://www.asil.org/sites/default/files/benchbook/airtransport.pdf

[TiredOldHack2]

Last month, Iberia was quite happy to check my baggage through to Heathrow from Medellin, via Madrid, even though the MAD-LHR flight was on a separate ticket (BA Avios flight) to the MDE-MAD one (Avios with Iberia).

Three hour stopover at MAD.

Iberia still managed to lose my case, though….. Got it the next day.

[LadyLlondon]

I can only think there are two reasons for British Airways to want to destroy one of the few benefits (to passengers) of having the OneWorld alliance.

Noting that British Airways has gained from codeshare agreements, route-sharing (otherwise known as price-fixing such as the transatlantic alliance), revenue-sharing (such as the recent Qatar agreement which will surely see prices remain up)… but doesn’t want to retain a major benefit and quite reasonable thing to do, which is to check passengers’ baggage through to their final destination NOT EVEN ON ALL-BA ITINERARIES.

The two reasons I can think of for BA to do this, are both quite miserable and mean reasons. One is that so many times when connecting from international to domestic, or from international to international at Heathrow Terminal 5, my baggage has been lost or late. It seems BA simply can’t connect baggage correctly at its own flagship Terminal 5, at London Heathrow.

The second reason might be that with APD making fares out of the UK so expensive, some people might be taking a cheaper flight to start an expensive itinerary somewhere else and thus lose up to approximately £200 of cost off their air fare. Perhaps BA would like to keep us all paying higher prices out of the UK. I have a sneaky feeling BA might well not choose to apply this rule in quite a lot of cases where it’s all their own tickets.

In the language of football, BA, this change is an “own goal” that you’ve just scored as it creates such ill will. We can all fly Ryanair Easyjet or Vueling or flybe or….. if we want to have such rules. If BA wants us to choose them, they’ll have to do something different to those airlines. Now they’re doing just the same and the overall ticket price on BA is often much higher. You’ve scored an “own goal”, BA, and I personally have just booked my next 4 flights elsewhere.

[russyyz]

Earlier this year I flew Oneworld on an AA ticket: SVQ-MAD-JFK-YYZ. Checking in with Iberia in Sevilla, with a through-ticket to Toronto, the young agent had immense difficulty tagging the bag through at 5am. Her Supervisor came over and resolved partially by explaining I had a choice: they could through-tag it electronically to JFK only, or they could write an old-fashioned hand-labelled tag all the way. I elected to do the latter since I knew I would have to pick it up at JFK when I arrived. Then I simply went to the connection desk, they laughed at the old hand-written tag but dropped it on the belt and I picked it up a few hours later in Toronto. What was frustrating was that they couldn’t issue the boarding passes for the second and third legs and I had to exit security in Madrid to go to the American Airlines counter and pick those up. (Of course I subsequently realised I could have used the electronic boarding passes on my phone and gone straight to the gate. Duh.)

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