Singapore Air-China Southern Interline

[EWR]

Quick question: Does anyone know if the above two airlines interline baggage and check in? The first flight is CZ, transferring to SQ at ICN.

[Airbus SAS A340-500]

Quick question: Does anyone know if the above two airlines interline baggage and check in? The first flight is CZ, transferring to SQ at ICN.

China Southern is not an interline partner of SQ.

You may find the whole list of interline partners here:
http://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/tr...ckin-partners/

[SilverChris]

Quick question: Does anyone know if the above two airlines interline baggage and check in? The first flight is CZ, transferring to SQ at ICN.

Your bags can be tagged through, as CZ and SQ are interline partners. Just make sure the CZ check-in agent knows what to do. It'll be easier if it's on one ticket.

However, CZ probably won't be able to issue your SQ BP. Just head to the transfer desk upon arrival at ICN, and present the baggage claim stub so they can make sure your bag is properly reflected in their system.

China Southern is not an interline partner of SQ.

You may find the whole list of interline partners here:
http://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/tr...ckin-partners/

That's not a complete list of interline partners, but rather the carriers that SQ is able to issue BPs on behalf of.

Regardless, the OP's first flight is with CZ, and a quick check by expertflyer on their interline partners reveals the following:

MAY CHECK BAGGAGE TO
AA AB AC AE AF AI AM AR AS AV AX AY AZ A3
A9 BA BG BI BL BR BU B7 CA CI CM CU CX DJ
DL DM EK ET EY FB FG FI FJ FM FT FZ GA GE
GF GK HA HM HP HR HU HX HY IB IC IQ IR IY
IZ JJ JL JP JQ JS JU J2 KA KC KE KL KM KQ
KU LA LG LH LP LR LX LY MD ME MF MI MK MS
MU MX NF NH NX NZ OA OK OM OU OX OZ PG PK
PR PS PU PX PZ QF QR RA RJ RO SA SB SD SP
SQ SU SV S7 TA TG TK TN TP TU UA UL UM UN
U6 VA VK VN VS VW VX WB WF WS WY XF XL YO
ZH 3K 3U 4M 8M 9W

[SQflyergirl]

Your bags can be tagged through, as CZ and SQ are interline partners. Just make sure the CZ check-in agent knows what to do. It'll be easier if it's on one ticket.

You are correct here: the operative word is CAN(be tagged through). You are also correct that when on one ticket the operative word changes to WILL (be tagged through)

A common misconception, however, which leads to many people arguing with agents - is on separate tickets when an interline agreement is in place.

The interline agreement merely means 1) the first airline CAN (it has the ability to) accept your bags and then 2) print a baggage tag to have it sent through from the first carrier to another carrier.

It does not mean the agent MUST - and is all dependent on policy and agent empowerment in the absence of a policy.

I've witnessed far too many agent abuses just because the pax knows the word "interline" and can bandy it about. In reality though the term is arguably the most misunderstood term in the flying world.

[EWR]

You are correct here: the operative word is CAN(be tagged through). You are also correct that when on one ticket the operative word changes to WILL (be tagged through)

A common misconception, however, which leads to many people arguing with agents - is on separate tickets when an interline agreement is in place.

The interline agreement merely means 1) the first airline CAN (it has the ability to) accept your bags and then 2) print a baggage tag to have it sent through from the first carrier to another carrier.

It does not mean the agent MUST - and is all dependent on policy and agent empowerment in the absence of a policy.

I've witnessed far too many agent abuses just because the pax knows the word "interline" and can bandy it about. In reality though the term is arguably the most misunderstood term in the flying world.

Woah, thanks guys. This is complicated stuff. I take it then that there is no guarantee and I should be braced for no. acceptance, as this is 2 PNRs?

[SQflyergirl]

Woah, thanks guys. This is complicated stuff. I take it then that there is no guarantee and I should be braced for no. acceptance, as this is 2 PNRs?

I don't know what CZ's policy is specifically on this kind of thing - so if the agent says no - It's probably best taken at face value and move along..


In reality it's not complicated. Almost every full service carrier interlines with every other full service carrier, to ensure passengers on a single PNR can get their bags checked through.

When it comes to separate tickets, some do, and some don't take bags through. It's probably related to their risk profile.

The first guy who takes your bag (in this case CZ) is the one who's assuming the risk for it. On two separate tickets, where they don't have a stake in the second ticket, they're not about to assume risk on behalf of SQ.

[259850]

I've not been successful in getting bags checked through by agents in China when bookings are on separate tickets. But mine were domestic to international transfers (usually a discounted domestic flight bought on ctrip transferring to international flights bought in Singapore).

Yours sounds like an international to international transfer.....try to speak to a supervisor if possible as generally counter staff are not as knowledgeable. But if the supervisor says no, then it is no. After all, as others have pointed out, you don't really have the right......

[EWR]

I've not been successful in getting bags checked through by agents in China when bookings are on separate tickets. But mine were domestic to international transfers (usually a discounted domestic flight bought on ctrip transferring to international flights bought in Singapore).

Yours sounds like an international to international transfer.....try to speak to a supervisor if possible as generally counter staff are not as knowledgeable. But if the supervisor says no, then it is no. After all, as others have pointed out, you don't really have the right......

Got it. The only other time I've done this was on a TG (intl) to TG (dom)connection on 2 PNRs. That worked obviously. But my co-travellers on SQ-TG were not able to do that, and in fact had to go through regular immigration at BKK (while I used the transfer immigration service airside)