checking luggage through on a BA flight connecting to a Thai air flight

[ptr120]

I'll be travelling from LHR to FRA on a BA flight, and connecting to a Thai air flight to MEL via BKK. Will I be able to check my luggage all the way through from LHR, or will I have to collect it at FRA and re-check my bags? The BA flight and the Thai air flight will be different tickets (E-ticket with BA and paper ticket with Thai air).
Thanks for the advice.

[bealine]

If you have one through ticket, you may have your bag through checked (interlined).

If, however, as I strongly suspect (because that is less expensive), you have two separate tickets than you will need to collect your bag in FRA and re-check it at FRA. There will be no exception with BA at LHR because staff who disobey BA's rules in this regard face disciplinary action!

[ptr120]

I will have 2 seperate tickets, but the reason for that is a less than efficient admin. in our travel department who books my travel, together with a need to combine private and business travel.

Is this really a BA rule not to check my bag all the way through? last year I flew CGN - LHR with LH, and then on to MEL with BA. bags were checked all the way through even though this was on 2 seperate tickets - thus this should be possible!?!

[GroundScot]

Industry rule now

This is now an industry rule - although interpreted in different ways/

For your curremt route - you WILL have to collect your bag in FRA - it is sensible also as TG operate from a different terminal.

However - if you changed your booking to LH or BD - you would be able to check them all the way through - as if your flights are all Star Alliance - they overlook the twp ticket rule.

Also note - if it is an e-ticket - BD does not allow ANY interline of baggage!

goof luck!

[apaddyinuk]

When I worked on the ground with EI way back in 99 we were told it was OK to interline bags with two seperate tickets. Then in 2000 we were told that we should not really do it. Then in 2001 we were told under no circumstances must we do it. By this stage I was working in customer relations in the baggage claims section and I realised why.
Basically it is up to the final carrier of travel to settle a claim for damaged or missing luggage which sounds fair enough. However, why should an airline accept responsibility for another airlines actions when it should not have been done? On a normal interline ticket the airline settleing the claim can prorate the other airline or airlines part of the cost of the claim but apparently when two tickets are involved, the airline being prorated do not legally have to pay anything!!!

[EI-CFC]

Also note - if it is an e-ticket - BD does not allow ANY interline of baggage!

Not nessecarily - it's it's all on the same booking/PNR, they will interline. e-ticket/paper doesn't matter. However they will not interline backs with two seperate tickets though.

[Globaliser]

Originally Posted by apaddyinuk

Basically it is up to the final carrier of travel to settle a claim for damaged or missing luggage which sounds fair enough. However, why should an airline accept responsibility for another airlines actions when it should not have been done? On a normal interline ticket the airline settleing the claim can prorate the other airline or airlines part of the cost of the claim but apparently when two tickets are involved, the airline being prorated do not legally have to pay anything!!!

I know that bealine accurately states the current published BA policy.

But I know too little about the mechanics of baggage loss claims to understand how BA's current policy benefits BA. I can understand how the final carrier may end up with the whole bill where the originating carrier has through-checked the bags across two tickets. But if BA is the originating carrier, how does it benefit from refusing to pass the bag on to the final carrier, which would pick up the bill if anything went wrong?

[striparella]

BA wont interline the baggage.

It doesn't sound thru-ticketed becuase you would most likely have two paper tickets - Unless BA has an e-ticket agreement with Thai.

If it's two seperate tickets it is indeed much cheaper for the airline to only take your bags as far as they take you.

At my airline we've just been told as of March we're not allowed to interline bags for pax on seperate tickets. And not onto some airlines at all - thru ticketed or not

[Globaliser]

Originally Posted by striparella

At my airline we've just been told as of March we're not allowed to interline bags for pax on seperate tickets. And not onto some airlines at all - thru ticketed or not

If the travel is through-ticketed, don't IATA rules require baggage to be interlined if that's what the pax wants?

[bealine]

IATA???

Who are they???

Facetious, I know, but IATA has never, in fact, had "rules" - they were never more than "agreements" and these IATA "agreements" are now virtually dead!!! The plethora of "no-frills" airlines who refuse to have any part of IATA are to blame for this, and the decision of the UK and US governments to allow these cowboys to operate outside IATA have ensured its slow death! I believe IATA will no longer exist once "Open Skies" goes ahead (and Willie Walsh believes he will negotiate the "Open Skies" agreement successfully within eighteen months - for Gatwick's sake, I hope he fails!!!)

FYI, the decision whether or not to interline baggage is entirely at the airline's discretion. Whilst the decision might not benefit BA itself, our senior managers are committed to reducing the £25 billion annually, across the industry, spent reuniting passengers with their baggage when said baggage had absolutey no hope of making connections!!!

[Globaliser]

Originally Posted by bealine

Facetious, I know, but IATA has never, in fact, had "rules" - they were never more than "agreements" and these IATA "agreements" are now virtually dead!!!

On a macro level, I agree with you about the decline in IATA's influence.

But they remain an important part of mainstream/traditional/legacy carrier operations. If those carriers have signed IATA agreements with each other (which they usually have), then those agreements are legally binding and cannot just be ignored as a matter of discretion. In that sense, they are still "rules". IATA standard agreements are used (IIRC) for more than just baggage interlining and revenue prorating; they also provide the model for ground handling agency agreements and such like.

[WHBM]

Shall I stir it and suggest the No 1 reason why bags are delayed for pax starting out from Heathrow on BA and then transferring to another carrier is that the BA flight was probably so long waiting at the departure hold at Heathrow that the connection was lost even before wheels-up ?

But yes, why arrange some faresaving ticket that does BA out of much of the revenue for the full trip, but still expect the full-fare service of through baggage and all the costs associated with that which others are describing here.

[Globaliser]

Originally Posted by WHBM

But yes, why arrange some faresaving ticket that does BA out of much of the revenue for the full trip, but still expect the full-fare service of through baggage and all the costs associated with that which others are describing here.

I agree with all that, but what I still don't understand is how BA saves any money by not sending the bag to another carrier at the connection point, if the last carrier is the one that picks up the bill.

I could understand the policy much more if it were the carrier whose name is on the tag that picks up the bill - then it would make perfect sense for BA to refuse to interline bags across two tickets.

[striparella]

Originally Posted by Globaliser

If the travel is through-ticketed, don't IATA rules require baggage to be interlined if that's what the pax wants?

Er no.

Not if we don't have an interline agreement with them.

There's only a list of about 5 obscure airlines we can't interline to if they're thru ticketed.

[CargoOne]

I woulke like to note that sometimes it still works. For example we often have our staff travelling like: separate ticket on Finnair intra-european sector, then separate ticket on SN Brussels intra-european+long haul sector. Finnair check-in is always happy to check you in for all 3 sectors including SN sectors, also baggage is checked through your final destination shown on second ticket. Probably this have something to do with close co-operation of AY and SN, but still nice.

[bealine]

I agree with all that, but what I still don't understand is how BA saves any money by not sending the bag ....

BA does not save money for itself! It is committed to saving money across the airline industry which currently spends £25 billion annually reuniting passengers with their bags. BA has identified that at least £10 billion of that is being spent unnecessarily through failed connections that were booked outside the Minimum Connection Times!!!

[ptr120]

so what happens in I miss the Thai air flight?

I guess I'm resigned to having to pick up my bags in Frankfurt and check them in again, but now I'm concerned about what would happen if the first flight with BA is delayed - a real risk judging by their recent on-time performance on that route. I have an hour and 50 minutes to make my connection in Frankfurt, but what happens if there is a delay and I miss the Thai air flight?

[lexxity]

It's upto Thai, they may take pity on you and allow a free change, I don't know what kind of ticket you have, but if it is a non-changeable be prepared to pay.

You won't be able to get anything out of BA if you have seperate tickets as they will have fulfilled their contract with you, remember that time forms no part of your contract. It's in section 9 IIRC of the conditions of carriage.