The rules for checking a bag with airlines can be confusing. It gets even more complicated when you’re connecting between two different airlines. So imagine if you’re not only flying with two airlines, but on separate reservations.
You’ll see the term PNR, which stands for Passenger Name Record. That’s the six-character number assigned to your airline reservation. You can save several flights under the same PNR, even from different airlines. If that’s the case, you should have no problems as long as the airlines are in the same alliance.
I’m talking about when you have made one reservation with one airline and a separate reservation for your connecting flight.
The answer to the question of whether or not you can check the bags from your departure airport to your final destination is, well, complicated. This is because there’s a difference between what’s possible, what’s reasonable, and what’s required.
Each U.S. airline has its own rules about interlined baggage. If you need to know what the airlines are expected to do, that’s where to start.
What’s our experience when interlining bags on separate reservations?
We rarely need to book separate reservations, so I have a limited data set to go on, but when I’ve needed to do so, my success rate when checking bags from different PNRs has been 100%.
I try to book flights where it should be easy to interline bags, such as sticking to the same airline alliance for all flights. I also usually try to do this when I’m checking in for a business class flight, which has increased my odds of getting a helpful check-in agent.
For instance, our first flight on the way home from Southeast Asia was in Singapore Business Class to San Francisco. From there, I booked separate positioning flights for us to get back to Orlando with United Airlines.
We stayed overnight at Changi Airport and checked in early for our flight. The business class line was empty, and we were met by a cheerful airline agent. I asked if she would be able to check our bags to our final destination since we had a flight from San Francisco to Orlando on Star Alliance partner United.
She asked for the flight information and started typing away. After confirming that our flight on United was in economy, she typed some more. Eventually, she apologized that she had to go talk to another agent and that she’d be back shortly. It took about 10 minutes but she returned and printed out our boarding passes for our Singapore Airlines and United Airlines flights. I was reminded that we’d have to pick up our bags in San Francisco to go through US Customs and could re-check them without having to stand in line.
We’ve had similar experiences when checking bags with Singapore Airlines connecting to a Lufthansa flight and when flying on separate tickets with Delta and Virgin Atlantic.
Will this work for you?
I wish there were a set answer I could give, but there are so many variables, including the employee’s willingness to check your bags at your departure airport, that there’s no sure thing. Delta and United have published policies to check bags through if you’re flying with an alliance partner. American’s policy says they will not check the bag through on separate PNRs with partner airlines or even with their own planes.
If you’re going to make two separate reservations, make sure to leave enough time during your connection to plan for the worst-case scenario. That would be if you were required to pick up your bags from the baggage claim and go back to the check-in desk for your connecting flight. If you’re connecting in a country that requires a visa for you to enter, this may be a problem, and in that case, it would make sense to book flights on the same PNR, even if it means paying a little more for the ticket. The peace of mind will be worth it.
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