Star Alliance Baggage Allowance?

[Mark in CA]

I recently achieved Premier status in United's Mileage Plus program, and bought a ticket from them for a flight to Budapest from SFO on flights operated by Lufthansa. Premier status lets you check two bags for free,and is supposed to be equivalent to Star Alliance Silver.

On the Lufthansa website, their explanation of Star Alliance Gold privileges says you can check three pieces of luggage instead of two, which led me to think that Silver allowed two pieces.

But when I got to the airport, they charged me $50 for my second bag.

Anyone else have experience with this? Did I get ripped off, or are the airlines just making it really, really hard to understand these kinds of partner benefits?

[hellsbrink]

If you read the T&C, or even just what they say online, you'll see that on Lufthansa it isn't the amount of baggage you have but the TOTAL weight of your checked baggage. When you get "Gold Status" you are allowed an extra 20kg in your allowance which means you COULD/MIGHT be able to check in an extra bag depending on which class you are travelling in and on which route. Economy gives you a 20kg limit, First gives you 40kg where they use the "Weight Concept" on some routes, where they use the "Piece Concept" it is one case max 23kg in Economy and 2 cases max 32 kg in First/Business. You'll also see the same policy as the "Piece Concept" on the United website.

So, in other words, you've misread the terms and gone over your personal weight limit and have been charged accordingly

[Mark in CA]

The agent didn't say anything about being overweight, and I doubt I was. She simply sad "only one piece." Had I brought the same number and weight of luggage to a United flight (which I thought this was), I would not have been charged extra because of my Premier status.

[hellsbrink]

Which class were you in? Economy? If you were then the limits for flights from the US on United are clear at ONE piece of baggage up to 23kg. Since you have "Premier" your allowance is 2 pieces of baggage but still 23kg.

However, you flew Lufthansa. Their limits for Economy are ONE case at 23kg but NOTHING extra for being a "Premier/Star Alliance Silver", Lufthansa baggage (http://www.lufthansa.com/online/portal/lh/uk/info_and_services/baggage?nodeid=2892307&l=en&cid=1000243&blt_p=GB&blt_l=en&blt_t=Info_and_Services%3EBaggage&blt_e=Content&blt_n=Additional%20free%20baggage%20allowance%20for%20Miles% 20%26%20More&blt_z=Free%20baggage%20allowance%20for%20Miles%20%26%20More% 20members%20fo&blt_c=GB|en|Info_and_Services%3EBaggage|Content|Additional%2 0free%20baggage%20allowance%20for%20Miles%20%26%20More|Free% 20baggage%20allowance%20for%20Miles%20%26%20More%20members%2 0fo) .

So they were within their rights to charge you for the extra bag, whereas if you had flown United you would have been ok IF your baggage did not exceed 23kg.

[frontcheck]

As with all Star Alliance airlines, Silver status only applies when travelling with the airline you are registered with (in this case UA) so if you travel with any Star carrier other than UA the status does not count. You need to be Gold to get benefits accross all Star carriers.

[Mark in CA]

I understand now about the baggage allowance when using a Star Alliance partner airline like LH from UA. But consider the following excerpt from the UA Mileage Plus web site.

Premier® members, and up to eight companions booked under the same confirmation number as a Premier member, are allowed two standard-sized checked bags, up to 50 lbs. each, without baggage charges. (There is no language anywhere on this page that says this is only for flights on United. It would have been easy for them to add "when flying on United, United Express, etc.," but they didn't!)

Premier members also receive Star Alliance Silver benefits when flying on any Star Alliance member.

Star Alliance Silver and Star Alliance Gold status provides additional recognition and rewards across all the member airlines...(In addition to your Priemier status benefits, right? Or at least that's what it appears to say.)

The emphasis is mine. I believe that a reasonable person could construe all this to mean that 1) you are allowed two pieces of baggage, 50 lbs each, and 2) the Star Alliance benefits are in addition to ("also" and "additional") your Premier status benefits when flying on partner airlines. I'm not saying this is the actual benefit, but at best the above excerpts could be called misleading, even if unintentionally.

And then there is that other reference in my earlier post about three bags instead of two for Gold status, which pretty strongly implies that Silver status allows two bags.

Add to the confusion that I actually purchased the tickets for these flights from United. I made what I thought was a good-faith effort to understand the rules, but was misled by this sloppy language. Once I got to the airport, I had no other choice but to pay up.

[ExXB]

Had I brought the same number and weight of luggage to a United flight (which I thought this was), I would not have been charged extra because of my Premier status.

From your comment I'm assuming you booked "UA" flights (UA flight numbers) through United or one of their agents and the flights were operated by LH. If this is the case your contract was with United Airlines and their terms and conditions apply to your journey. Lufthansa's rules are irrelevant here - your contract was with United.

The US DOT, in 2009, took the opportunity to remind the airlines that for code-share flights the operating carrier's rules do NOT apply - the contracting carrier's rules apply regardless of whose metal is being used. The DOT informed the airlines at the same time that it wasn't enough to say something like "In case of code-share flights the code-sharing airline's rules apply" - they had to inform the passenger of the rules that would apply. The "guidance" can be found here (http://airconsumer.dot.gov/rules/webnotice_04012009.doc). (MS Word Document from dot.gov website)

The airlines don't like this ruling (which is an obvious one in my opinion) because it is difficult to apply different rules for different passengers on the same flight. It seems that they 'screwed-up' with you.

I would complain to United (directly) that the check-in agent misapplied the rule and ask them for a refund. If they demure I would suggest you forward the exchange to the DOT's enforcement office.