Tip: Ask to Check Your Luggage All the Way to Your Final Destination

Daily Newsletter

Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter

Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

Email address

Sign up

By signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

On a recent trip to Australia I found myself booked on an insane routing home that took a total of more than 58 hours. I was booked on two separate tickets on two airlines that I had thought had no relationship at all. My routing took me from Melbourne (MEL) — Bangkok (BKK) — Ho Chi Minh (SGN) on Thai Airways with a 10-hour layover, connecting to Qatar Airways for flights from Ho Chi Minh (SGN) — Doha (DOH) — New York (JFK). It wasn't an ideal way home, but with business class and mostly lie-flat seats it didn't feel as long as it was. What made it even better was that I didn't have to worry about my bag for all of those 58 hours.

When I arrived at MEL, my first stop was the Qatar check-in desk. I asked the agent for my connecting boarding passes from Ho Chi Minh. Unfortunately, Qatar was unable to issue the boarding passes but the agent did suggest I ask Thai to check my baggage all the way through to JFK, as the two airlines have a baggage service agreement. An agent at the Thai Airways check-in counter made a few phone calls and verified the baggage services agreement. The agent then checked my onward connections and issued luggage tags that read BKK-SGN-DOH-JFK. Finally, the Thai agent issued me my boarding cards for my Thai flights. Again to her surprise and mine a boarding card for my flight from SGN-DOH, a Qatar Airways flight, printed from her machine as well on the Thai card stock. When I arrived at JFK 58 hours later, my bag was waiting for me.

How can you tell if the airlines you're flying have a baggage service agreement or any additional agreements? It takes a bit of research. If you're flying with airlines within the same alliance, they'll likely have service agreements. But if you're traveling between two alliances like I was, your best bet is just to ask at check in or call ahead — the worst that can happen is that there's no such agreement. As TPG always says, it never hurts to ask.