Will my Luggage go all the way even if Im not on the plane?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 1 Aug, 2023
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Even if you were to make the luggage come off in London, this is not the end of your troubles. I spent 3 hours at a Qatar Airways desk waiting to get baggage that could not be short-checked/ short-tagged for a 20 hours overnight stop. I’m not sure Heathrow will be better.
Off the top of my head, I also think that they are subject to security searches if nobody claims the bag, especially if the owner is nowhere to be found (such as wondering if he can get his bag at the service desk). There are also suggestions online that some airline are quick to ‘fine’ you to give your bags back.
Unaccompanied bags are only allowed in freight not on passenger flights.
As you will have to show your boarding pass at the gate at Heathrow, this will be checked against the luggage loaded. If the passenger is missing or hasn’t boarded, their luggage will be offloaded due to security concerns.
This is normal practice across almost all airlines/airports I have traveled to; and to tell you the truth, it causes a large amount of delay as the plane is generally boarded but can’t taxi from the gate as they have to open the luggage hold to find the passengers luggage, offload it, possibly re-bin the rest of the luggage, load it again and then adjust the manifest.
It would be very rare case that your boyfriend’s luggage traveled unaccompanied – I can imagine this if you don’t deplane at your transit points – but this is highly unlikely given your itinerary.
I can offer you two solutions:
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Simply check in together and have his luggage tagged with your reservation; that way the bags won’t be offloaded even if your boyfriend is.
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Have your boyfriend courier/cargo his luggage in advance. That way his luggage will be at the destination even if he doesn’t fly (or is late), plus you don’t have to worry about overweight fees and hauling luggage around the airport.
- Do British citizens need a passport to visit the Republic of Ireland?
- Would it be unsafe for an American to go to Moscow right now?
Considering that airlines typically won’t ship luggage that’s not connected to a flying passenger, your best bet, if you can’t check in your boyfriend’s luggage, is for you boyfriend to travel with his luggage himself.
Unless you get clear confirmation his luggage will travel all the way to Stockholm, I suspect you run the risk of his luggage being offloaded in either Madrid or London.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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