Interline Baggage and Airline Alliances

[surely not]

Not sure if this should be here where people with knowledge can answer the question, or on SLF where people who have suffered might comment. Decided to go with the knowledgeable!!!

I was chatting to a couple of friends last week and they asked me if the emergence of strong competing airline alliances had affected the interlining of baggage. It seems that they had both been flying in to LHR with British Airways and connecting on with non OneWorld airlines. Star Alliance in one case and Team (?) in the other. The check-in agents steadfastly refused to check their bags through onto the connecting airline at LHR, but stated that they would have done so had the onward carrier been a OneWorld carrier!!

Is this BA playing dirty again, or is it justified? I'm not aware of any reason other than commercial for it not to be done.

[Confirmed Must Ride]

As long as the pax has his flights booked into the same record and the airlines have an interline agreement there should be no problem....sounds a bit dirty to me.


The airline I work for interlines all the time to every alliance, at LGW transfering bags go through a common transfer belt (at south terminal anyway). Even if they are not booked in the same record it is not hard to hand write an IATA standard interline bag tag.

I think it is only the low cost carriers who do not have the interline agreements cannot transfer bags.

[Globaliser]

BA's new rules are as follows, as I understand it.

If you are interlining on a single ticket, then the bag will be interlined.

If you are connecting (whether online or interline) on two separate tickets, then the bag will only be transferred between BA and BA, or BA and another OW carrier.

There's never been any IATA obligation to interline bags between two tickets, and BA isn't the only airline out there that's beginning to refuse to do it when there's no obligation to do so.

[surely not]

As I understood it the guys had all flights on a single ticket, not seperate tickets.

I knew that interlining wasn't done when on seperate tickets, or from charter to sched or vice versa. I will ask for clarification.