V-Flyer

Hi All,

Is there any way to book a ticket that would automatically transfer baggage, so you can check in at Manchester with BMI all the way through to your destination via LHR with Virgin?

I know if you have a ticket purchased with BMI and a ticket purchased with Virgin you cannot, but I wondered if it was possible to buy a ticket which was all the way through?

Thanks for your help

Michael

Yes you can - BUT it'll often be more expensive than buying the two seperately. A call to either BD or VS (I'd recomment VS, however) can sort that out pretty easily though.

Worth checking out the pricing - and then it simply comes down to how much lugging cases around airports is worth to you... [:w]

Well if it's any help, a couple of years back I had a BMI Diamond Club reward ticket for East Midlands -> Nice, via Frankfurt (as it was way out of Season in February).

The EMA - FRA leg was on BD & the FRA - NCE leg was on LH [& vice versa], both with seperate booking ref no's. Both ways they managed to give me both boarding passes at check-in & check my bag right through to the final destination.

So, in theory, the Star Alliance system can handle this - all depends on how much of the Star Alliance system VS use!

It is my understanding that about a year ago BMI, as part of their move to a low cost airline structure, decided not to accept any through checked bags... whether on 'through tickets' or not.

I'll double check this tomorrow as I guess I could be wrong.

Any other IATA carrier will accept through baggage check as long as its the same booking.

I certainly remember the 'good old days' when almost every airline would through check baggage, on even the most imaginative itinerary.

Originally posted by V-Ben
It is my understanding that about a year ago BMI, as part of their move to a low cost airline structure, decided not to accept any through checked bags... whether on 'through tickets' or not.

I'll double check this tomorrow as I guess I could be wrong.

Well, I'm actually flying AMS-LHR-SFO and back with VS in September, with a BMI segment ex-AMS that was specifically sold to me on the premise that on a through booking, BMI will interline the bags.

On the BMI website, they confirm that they will still through check baggage (both within BMI, to/from codeshare partners such as VS, and any other interlined bag) as long as it is part of the same itinerary/PNR:

http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/planand ... ck-in.aspx

That said, the paranoid person in me tells me not to go through the FCC at T1, but instead go through the baggage hall and watch the bags come off the AMS flight and make sure that mine isn't offloaded at LHR (despite it being tagged to SFO), and then trek over to T3...

Cheers!
Mike