Thru checking baggage
There is one other small problem that can arise when thru checking baggage. I was travelling NPL-AKL-PEK on Air NZ then PEK-LHR with British Airways all on the one ticket. I checked in at New Plymouth with 2 items of baggage a total of 9 kgs only. They tagged the bags all the way through to LHR and gave me boarding passes as far as Peking. At Peking I had to just check with BA for a seat number and boarding pass. BA at Peking asked where my luggage was and I showed them the two baggage tags issued by Air NZ. I was then told that I had excess baggage charges to pay as they (BA) only allowed 1 item of checked baggage and I had two. Because Air NZ operate on a total weight system and as I was on a through ticket I explained this to BA and told them the Air NZ limit was 23kgs and I had only 9kgs. They still wanted me to pay excess for my two bags and after well over an hour of pleasant discussion (no raised voices from either side) they eventually went down to check my two bags were only 9 kgs, came back and said "this time we will let you off." The moral is twofold, if you have any change of airline when through checking baggage, check the other airlines baggage rules. Secondly, don't rant and rave at the Agent who is just doing what his rules say he has to do, but politely explain why you are in the position that mean you are breaking his airlines rules.