How can I know if my airline will check my bags through all the itinerary?
score:3
There is one way to know for absolute sure. As you are checking in with a human, who is preparing your bag tag, you ask "do I need to interact with my bag at [transit airport] or will I just see it again at [final destination]?" They will give you a definitive answer.
However, you may not plan to check in with a human (many kiosks print bag tags and then you put your bag on a belt without talking to anyone) or you may want to know in advance. This is not a generally answerable question, but:
if you bought two separate plane tickets, one from A to B and one from B to C, then you will definitely have to help your luggage make the connection.
if your transit is in a different country than both your departure and final destination, you can find out from the airport if you need to help your luggage make the transit. Find the airport's web site and search for Connections.
if your transit is your first point of entry into a country , and your connection is a domestic flight, you will definitely have to claim your bags and clear customs with them
if your transit is your first point of entry into Schengen, and your connection is an inside-Schengen flight, you will definitely have to clear immigration, and you may need to claim your bags and clear customs with them. Check with the airport (as in the three-country case above) to be sure.
if you want access to your bags in the transit airport you can request it (this will probably involve checking in with a human)
most other situations will not involve you having to interact with your bags. To be sure, ask the airline that operates your first flight, using whatever contact mechanisms you can find on their web site.
So if you're in the last camp, there's no clear and obvious reason why you can't expect your bags to make the connection without your help, but if you're worried and want reassurance before you fly, ask that first airline. They will know if they intend to pass the bags along for the next leg or deliver them to you.
Note: some combinations of airlines and airports may be able to do things that other combinations cannot, such as transferring your luggage for you even on separate tickets, or letting you clear customs without claiming your bag (countries will not let you mix with domestic passengers before you have cleared customs, but they can trust your description of what's in your bag and see you again after you've claimed it.) You are more likely to see this from airports and airlines trying to encourage using them for transits: Turkish is a good example of this. If in doubt, ask your airline and/or the transit airport.
Upvote:0
Before beginning, I would like to kudo travel-dealz.eu, whom I am not affiliated with, for a good and comprehensive article that I cited in this answer.
Let's start with the basics.
What is check-through and how does it differ from regular check-in?
Suppose you fly from X to Y via Z. Z is your flight connection airport. X, Y and Z can be any domestic or international airports, not cities. If your itinerary includes changing airport within the same city (e.g. London Heathrow to Stansted, New York JFK to LaGuardia), this will never apply
If you check-in your bags at every airport, you must 1) deliver your pieces of checked bag at X, 2) collect those bag(s) at Z, 3) go and line up at Z's bag drop counters, hand over the bags, 4) collect the bags at Y which is your final destination
If you can check-through, the ariport handling operator at Z will collect the bag from the inbound aircraft and deliver it to the next outbound aircraft of your trip, so only steps 1) and 4) from the above are required. You can be in the gate area at Z and wait for your next flight, saving time and physical effort in handling the bags.
I have the following itinerary (...), can I check bags through?
The answer is that there is no final and generic answer that can be given on a travel board. Surely, users can post by their own experience, but no answer can fully cover all cases, and you really need to find someone who traveled the same itinerary before you on your same conditions (see further questions) to get a reliable answer. An answer that can change anytime because of airline policies
Check-through with different tickets?
That is a 99% full NO. If you buy separate ticket, you normally have no way to check the bag through. Those are separate transportation contracts. The linked article claims that you have a lot more chances to get your bags checked through, but that's just not the normal rule.
In fact, it is claimed that in case the airlines have agreements, including code-share or being members of the same alliance, you have more chances to convince a check in operator by asking nice. But that is a claim, which can be true a lot of times, not consistently true.
Check-through with low-cost airlines?
Low cost airlines are particularly known for their cut-costs policy. Your chances of a check-through with Ryanair or WizzAir (for example) are close to zero. Handling bags is a cost
If one of your flights is booked with a low-cost carrier, your chance of getting your luggage check through are practically zero. Most of the no-frills carriers do not sign agreements with other airlines. So even if the agent on the ground would like to help you – which per se is already rather unlikely – they can’t.
Check-through and customs?
Your ability to check-through is affected, in a negative way, by certain customs policies on international travels. Nobody can likely can tell in advance the whole list of points, but once you have to clear immigration in certain countries, you must do with all your pieces of bags. That is specifically the case of US, Canada and China (see here). Probably a lot more cases.
Maybe I can tell that if you fly to the Schengen area, with Y and Z being any Schengen destination, you clear immigration at Z but then clear customs at Y (I may be partially wrong, but we could discuss Switzerland, not-EU-but-yes-Schengen, as a great example all night...)
So if you find that your itinerary is comprised of certain destinations which require customs for transit travelers, you found your NO
>>> Who can tell me for sure? <<<
Not a travel board can tell you for sure whether you can get your bag checked through. If you bought a single ticket there are two only reliable ways
Call the airline, introduce your PNR to them. They will know for sure
The final way is to check your bag tag and ask the bag-drop attendant.
Only they know, at the time you travel. This because, for any special circumstance, your check-through might be downgraded last minute to check-in. And you came to the airport all happy that your bag will fly X->Z->A->B->C->Y and forget that you must retrieve it at all or almost all stops, losing your bag than asking a simple educated question.
In conclusion, while you can get a lot of useful information on a travel board, never trust the experiences and the opinions posted here fully until you get your bag tag printed, at the origin airport, on your departure day.
If you want to make sure that everything is set up correctly, you can always perform a short check. Have a look at the luggage tag that the agent at the airport will attach to your suitcase or bag. It carries all the relevant information. And for you, the most important are the airport codes.
These codes will tell you exactly where the bags are heading for. If IATA codes are a closed book to you, check out this website. Memorize the codes that you’d like to see on your tag. If you see that the labels only show the IATA code of the first airport you’ll apporach, you can be sure that the agent didn’t check through your bags to the final destination.
More post
- 📝 What sort of Covid test do I need to board a Ryanair flight from Spain to England?
- 📝 Immigration at Schiphol airport for non-EU citizens?
- 📝 Short-term internship visa issued by Austria - what to do if no work-related remark is present on sticker?
- 📝 Getting a "Número de Identidad de Extranjero" (NIE number) for a 10-day trip in Spain
- 📝 One night in a traditional temple in Japan
- 📝 Can I book a flight a month before, at the airport?
- 📝 I need to fly from Germany to US ASAP. I’m holding EU passport
- 📝 Can I travel to US with the Italian carta d'identita?
- 📝 Is it possible to somehow open a bank account in Vietnam with a tourist visa of six months?
- 📝 No stamp on non-EU passport while travelling from Belfast to Dublin
- 📝 Entry requirements for U.S. Virgin Islands (for US citizen)
- 📝 How much time to give myself to change airlines on Changi Airport with and without baggage?
- 📝 Do I need a visa if arriving at Narita and connecting to a flight from Haneda?
- 📝 Do I need a transit visa id buy ticket from partner companies
- 📝 Will a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) work overseas?
- 📝 Amount of stamps for sending postcards from India
- 📝 Exchanged UK for EU (Spanish) driving license - impact on ability to hire a car
- 📝 Rent a car at Palm Springs airport
- 📝 J1 visa followed by ESTA
- 📝 Showers at/near Paris Gare du Nord station?
- 📝 What's the large pipe on top of M/S Viking Grace?
- 📝 Was it legal to restrict access to USA when holding a valid ESTA and visiting Canada for 6 months?
- 📝 Do I need a visa for Basel if I hold a Jamaican Passport but have British Citizenship Residency
- 📝 Turkish visa for Guyanese citizen
- 📝 Visa-free entry into Japan and passport expiration date
- 📝 Which embassy should I apply for Schengen Visa
- 📝 UK Standard Visitor visa application to sit for PLAB 1 without savings or job
- 📝 Flight search for multi-stop with 10 segments
- 📝 Is 1 hour 45 min enough time to get through Dulles customs and immigration to make connecting flight?
- 📝 Non-prescription medicines in India and USA
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How can I know if my airline will check my bags through all the itinerary?
- 📝 When booking through online travel websites, how do I know if the airline will treat multi-flights as separate trips or a single trip?
- 📝 How can I check if a flight has landed or is delayed when I don't know the flight number but know some facts?
- 📝 During a SNCF strike, how can I check what trains will run without going to the station?
- 📝 Where in Beijing or Hong Kong can I buy good jade jewelry? How will I know it's the real thing?
- 📝 How much can I claim in damages for a missed connection, on an EU airline flying through the EU?
- 📝 Travelling from US to Paris via UK, can I avoid checking bags all the way through to Paris?
- 📝 Given a flight number, how can one know the max capacity & number of batteries one may have in carry-on luggage, without contacting airline companies?
- 📝 How can I know ahead of time in which aisle the check-in counter will be located at the airport?
- 📝 How can I check out the balance on my Vodafone Italy SIM card without a mobile app?
- 📝 When booking a flight when the clock is set back by one hour due to the daylight saving time, how can I know when the plane is scheduled to depart?
- 📝 How can I check if my (unlocked) phone will work with a particular country's SIM cards, for 3G and calls?
- 📝 How can I view all of the flights between two cities across all dates?
- 📝 How can budget OTAs offer prices that are 25% of what the airline charges?
- 📝 How can I get a brief but still extensive summary of the Conditions Of Carriage of an airline and are they an international standard?
- 📝 How can I check the current situation in Budapest train station?
- 📝 How can I find out whether skipping the first flight in a booking will void the return?
- 📝 How can I verify if an airline is telling the truth about the reason for the flight's delay, in the context of EU delay compensation?
- 📝 Dual-national, returning to US the day the US Passport expires; can he check in with airline on Dutch passport but reenter with expiring US passport?
- 📝 If I book a Eurostar ticket through SNCB, how can I attach my Eurostar Frequent Traveller details to the booking?
- 📝 Can I get a boarding pass for a different airline in the transit area of Delhi Airport without going through immigration?
- 📝 How can I find out all the stores in a particular street before going there?
- 📝 Should I notify the airline (or anyone) if I know I will be delayed picking up my checked luggage
- 📝 How to know if I will be affected by the Ryanair strike on 22nd August?
- 📝 Is it illegal to visit the Philippines for a few hours for a visa run? If so, how can I know in which SE Asian countries it would be okay?
- 📝 How can I see what the fastest driving route is that goes through n places?
- 📝 If I travel with 2 different companies will the second company that I check in with know my previous departure point?
- 📝 How can I purchase duty free liquids if I'm connecting through the US?
- 📝 Can I check in and go through security at DTW the night before a flight?
- 📝 Can I check in all the way through?