Under what conditions is my luggage auto-transferred from a previous flight to the next?

score:4

Accepted answer

Baggage will normally be transferred automatically if you are on a multi-segment trip consisting of transfers (connections) rather than stopovers. A transfer is normally 4 hours or less on a domestic itinerary and 24 hours or less on an international itinerary. If the itinerary consists of multiple airlines, the airlines must have an interline baggage agreement to allow the automatic baggage check-through. On some airline combinations, this may also occur even if the itinerary consists of separate tickets.

Certain airlines and airports may have other restrictions, for example a given airport may not allow baggage to be checked through if there is an overnight layover at that airport, even though it would be allowed if the layover was the same duration during the day.

If your baggage is checked-through to final destination, the final destination and intermediate transfer airports will be shown on the bag tag, so it is useful to glance at this to make sure it has your intended destination on it; sometimes your bag will be checked-through to a different airport than you were expecting.

Upvote:0

Generally, if the stop is inserted in a flight section by necessity (to change planes or such), the luggage is checked through.

If you book the section of the flight to a city, and then another section from there on, you make that stop happen, and then you get your luggage out.

There are exceptions, like when your layover is very long, or if you ask to have your luggage not checked through; and at the end it all depends on the airline and its internal policies.

If you want to know for sure for a specific case, you have to ask them (and it might still be different later).

Upvote:3

The general rule of thumb is if it is a single ticket on the same airline or their partner airlines, then your baggage will be checked through to the final destination for that day's flights. (that "day's flights" being a series of flights you can check in for at one time, which may cover several calendar days)

If it is a single ticket using multiple non-aligned airlines (such as through a travel agent or 3rd party booking sites), then the ability to check bags through would depend on the interline agreements in place between each pair of connecting airlines.

The allowable time for not claiming bags at layovers varies depending on airport and airline policies. I have had to claim bags during an 8 hour layover and have checked bags through with a 22 hour layover. This is an aspect that only the airline can answer with certainty.

More post

Search Posts

Related post