I'm due to fly Brazil (Recife) to Sydney tomorrow and have major confusion with my baggage allowance. I've been living in Brazil for a year so have a LOT to transfer. Can anyone help with this?
I booked one itinerary via Expedia:
Recife to Sao Paolo TAM (domestic economy)
Sao Paolo to Santiago LAN premium economy international
Santiago to Sydney QANTAS premium economy
The baggage allowances are different for each flight. I don't know whose limit I have to follow. I tried to find out and got 3 different answers:
Expedia: follow TAM's limit as they'll be checking the baggage. I can use their international limit even though I'm flying domestically with them. Their limit is 2x32kg.
QANTAS: have to follow QANTAS limit. It's 2 x 23kg
TAM: They don't know the answer. That's all they could tell me!!
Excess baggage is another consideration. I know I will have it. Again, different answers:
Expedia: Pay for it once to TAM
QANTAS: Have to pay each airline separately (so pay for the same baggage 3 times!)
TAM: they don't know!!
Anyone experienced this and know the answer?
I know that from Australia to South America that if you check in with QF they can interline bags to LA & JJ & more often than not all the boarding passes will be issued. I don't have any reason to believe this wouldn't be the case in reverse. If excess baggage is collected it will apply to wherever the bags are checked through to which hopefully will be SYD.
Make sure when TAM issue the excess baggage receipt that it stipulates the charge is for REC/GRU/SCL/SYD so if you're asked for the receipt at a downline port you have proof that the receipt is for the whole journey not just for REC/GRU. This would come in handy if didn't get all your boarding passes in REC & had to obtain a boarding passe enroute.
Per IATA Resolution 302, if on one pnr, the most significant carrier rule should apply - which would be Qantas limit.
Although unsure if your mixed classes change this. Assume no Qantas status. In any event per IATA policy the allowance should be shown on your ticket
At least with travel to/from South America the limit for TAM, LAN or QF is 2 pieces so the MSC doesn't really matter as much as if you were travelling to countries where the baggage limit was in kilos & they all differed.
I haven't got a 'ticket'. I've got an Expedia itinerary which doesn't state anything. It has a link to baggage which states contact individual companies. I thought it would e the first ie TAM, but QANTAS told me it would be their policy and that I would have to pay the excess three times. It's one ticket and baggage should be checked through from Recife to Sydney.
Expedia said it would be the first ie TAM....it's so cnfusing when the airlines and booking agent themselves give totally different answers!
Just because you only have an Expedia travel itinerary doesn't mean you don't have an electronic ticket - it just sounds like Expedia haven't forwarded it to you but it's always a good idea to carry it with you. I don't think many agents issue paper tickets any longer & besides you would know if you had one of these.
The only time you would have to pay excess baggage three times would be if there was no baggage agreement between the airlines & you had to collect your bags at each intermediate point. When you are flying from Australia to South America QF can interline bags from QF to LA to JJ so I don't have any reason to doubt this can be done in reverse.
Excess in charged by the piece to/from South America not kilos so excess baggage charges will apply for however many pieces you have over 2 pieces.
There are usually 2 rates an online rate when all your travel is with the one airline & an interline rate for when your journey is on multiple carriers such as your trip. For example ex Australia to South America the online rate for flights on QF only eg BNE QF x/SYD QF SCL would be approx AUD150.00 per piece & the interline rate approx AUD290.00.
This is what I expect to happen in your case:
* That your bags will be checked from REC/xGRU/SCL/SYD
* That you will receive all boarding passes REC but don't panic if you don't
* That you will be charged the applicable interline rate for each bag you check in after the first two
* That your excess baggage receipt should be all the way to SYD (remember to double check your receipt says this)
* TAM may charge a heavy fee for each bag that exceeds 23 kilos (50lbs)
Don't forget to tell us what the end result is as it would be handy to know.
