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#937713 by GILL88
22 Aug 2017, 15:38
Hi
Just checked in for Delta One flight Miami to JFK. Asked if bags could be checked to Manchester as flying Virgin Atlantic tonight on different ticket and told by VA it would not be possible.
Check in guy was great . He checked the bags through and also issued our VA tickets.
Seems to be purely down to agent if they will do this for you.
#937714 by Kraken
22 Aug 2017, 16:32
I would suggest that the fact that Delta & Virgin are partners and both use the same IT system had a lot to do with this (plus a helpful check-in agent).

Had you been on VS & BA bookings (ticketed separately) say on JFK-LHR-MAN I'd bet you'd be reclaiming & re-checking your bags at Heathrow.
#937763 by property1925
24 Aug 2017, 04:05
I've always been checked through on 2 separate tickets if with the same airline

If different airlines, it depends on whether there is a service level agreement. So, for example, there is NOT between Qatar and Singapore, but there is between Sinapore and BA. It does not depend on codeshare or flyer programmes - just whether there is an agreement.
#937767 by PeterStansfield
24 Aug 2017, 10:47
I think there's a confusion here

- There has to be an interline agreement to make it possible to check luggage through on different tickets (if they're with different airlines)
- Whether they tell you that they can, and whether they do it for you, depends on how they feel.

The best case of this I had was with checking bags through a 3 airline journey, from United (Star), to Korean (Skyteam), and onwards with Asiana (Star again)- all on separate tickets

The worst case of this was with Delta connecting to Virgin on different tickets. We almost missed the Virgin flight due to Delta's stupidity, stubborn-ness, and being over 5 hours late AND having to clear immigration, get luggage, check in, and go through security again

Peter
#937771 by tontybear
24 Aug 2017, 12:12
property1925 wrote:I've always been checked through on 2 separate tickets if with the same airline


There have been a lot of changes in the last year or so though!

BA certainly no longer do it. They might at some outstations but that is against BA policy and is happening less and less.

AA stopped for a while then restarted doing it.

VS and BA will interline each other when the flights are on the same ticket but not on separate tickets.
#937791 by Kraken
25 Aug 2017, 13:37
Seems a bit of a backwards move by BA to stop this practice on 2 separate tickets [both on BA]... or maybe their recent well publicised IT glitches have something to do? In theory it must be marginally cheaper for them to through-check bags at the connecting airport, as the passenger only then has to see 1 check-in agent for the entire journey. The airport baggage system can deliver the bag to it's onward flight much faster & cheaper and cut down the risk of bags missing connections. Missed-connect bags cost any airline as they have to reunite the bag with you (so a courier) & pay reasonable costs for overnight items needed until you get your bag (if not covered by your insurance).

I can fully understand BA not interlining VS bags on separate tickets - they are, after all, commercial rivals. That said, with the demise of Little Red, I bet BA pick up a decent amount of business from passengers outside London (i.e. North of Birmingham) flying on BA to connect to VS flights, especially if the VS flight is heading West to the USA. (If you're heading East, the Emirates have stitched that market up with multiple flights to Dubai daily from most of the regional airports).

The airlines could cut costs a little (with the airports help) to have a system like in the USA. Your bag is checked to it's final destination, but you have to reclaim it & clear Customs at your first US airport. Right outside the Customs hall there are normally belts to drop your bags onto to feed them back into the baggage system for delivery to your onward flight. No lugging bags through the airport / on a transit shuttle / up/down a level to check-in etc.

The US approach would help UK Customs too, as they would know all bags on arrival at [say] LHR need to be cleared. Years ago we did DEN-ORD-LHR-MAN. Checked the bags at Denver for all the flights & only saw them again at Manchester - on a domestic arrivals belt from the internal BA flight. Customs were not interested in a domestic arrival.... This was back in the days of the £145 limit of stuff from outside the EU, so was quite easy to exceed.
#937793 by tontybear
25 Aug 2017, 13:52
BA stopping interlining on separate tickets has nothing to do with the May IT Meltdown as it started in November last year.
#937842 by honey lamb
26 Aug 2017, 21:35
Kraken wrote:Years ago we did DEN-ORD-LHR-MAN. Checked the bags at Denver for all the flights & only saw them again at Manchester - on a domestic arrivals belt from the internal BA flight. Customs were not interested in a domestic arrival.... This was back in the days of the £145 limit of stuff from outside the EU, so was quite easy to exceed.

The bags would have been customs cleared at LHR. I had been told of this some time ago but it was confirmed for me by a customs officer here in Cork. I had just come off a flight from Vancouver via LHR and having collected my bag, I was dithering between the Blue EU channel and the Green Nothing to Declare channel simply because the said officer was there and I was aware I had a baggage tag minus the green EU strip. He asked me where I had come from and when I said Vancouver via LHR he just waved me through either channel telling me that my bag had already been custom-cleared. When I asked him how, he told me that it was by X-Ray.
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