I've heard of it, but have only been charged when connecting to a non Star Alliance member airline where a separate check-in was required.

I doubt you'll have a problem as long as you check your bags all the way through to your final destination.

From the UA website:

"When a customer travels on a codeshare flight or on an aircraft operated by a Star Alliance member airline, then the policy regarding checked bags follows the rules determined by the originating marketing carrier."

"Your originating marketing carrier is defined as the airline whose flight number is assigned to the first segment of your itinerary. If this carrier is not United or United Express, different charges may apply. Baggage service charges are based on the date of ticketing."

That is according to UA.

I had a similar issue when I flew a short domestic flight on UA and connected to three much longer flights on SIA. I was allowed three 70 lb bags on UA, but three 50 lb bags on SIA.

I called both airlines and was told by UA that the SIA policy would apply, even though they're both Star Alliance. Two bags weighed about 55 lbs each - but SIA didn't have an issue for whatever reason. All bags were checked through from Colorado to Perth.

I'd be interested to hear how it goes dutyfree.

Just got home last night and it was as I thought-there was NOT an additional charge on United for the checked bag.Too bad that the ANZ agent was clueless on this .I asked her several times that ANZ and United were codeshare flights and that there shouldn't be an additional charge after boarding for the first carrier but she repeatedly said NO!After what happened below-I am not a big fan of flying them anytime soon which is strange as I thought that my flight there was very nice.

HOWEVER,many of us that connected on to the international flight in Auckland to the US got charged $200 for our CARRY ON bags. We were stopped before security by a "contract" (ie non ANZ personnel)person who had us weigh our carry on bags including our purses,computers, water bottles,newly purchased magazine and treasures from the souvenir shops at the airport,etc.-if they were over the 7 allowance,they called Air New Zealand at the ticket counter and we were sent down there to pay the $200 fine.It did not make any difference the size of the bag or whether you had one bag and a purse requirement!
When we told them that this was never enforced on our flights out of the US (SFO and LAX) they said that it didn't matter. When we mentioned that the check in agents at the ticket counter in Christchurch never mentioned it, they said that they should have?

Because our connection time was less than an hour in Auckland from our Christchurch flight in the domestic terminal to the connection to our international flight in the international terminal( via 15 minute walk or wait for every 20 minutes for the connector bus) this having to go downstairs and stand in line to be weighed again for our carry ons and then wait in another line to pay the $200 caused me to make my flight with 4 minutes to spare(before they shut the door and we pushed back from the gate) courtesy of an agent running some of us who got screwed on this through customs and security-absolutely ridiculous!This connection was booked through a special NZ travel agent through ANZ and I had asked several agents prior to flying yesterday and everyone told me that it was a legal connection?

I noticed that if your carry on bags were over the allotment,all was forgiven if you were in business or economy comfort class ticketing? Some folks had a massive backpack along with a little backpack that you knew was over the 7 allotment but got on which honked quite a few of us that got sent back downstairs.

As someone who travels on a lot of various airlines around the world internationally as a passenger and also works international flights every week to all points, I have never run into this. Bag size is always important on foreign carriers for carry on but including your computer,purse,book,water,etc. for traveling over 17 hours if it fits into the one bag limit with a purse? Just saying....

What a pain.

Air NZ has always been strict with their carry on limits, often weighing them at the check-in counter, then giving you the option to check them if they're overweight. It sounds as if this should have been done in Christchurch, but wasn't.

Everytime we fly Air NZ they give our roll aboard carry ons the evil eye. We've had to remove valuables and check them in more than once.

These days we're very carefull to adhere to the 7 kg limit, unless we're flying Business Class (yes, they give Business Class travelers more leeway, the perks of paying a fortune for a ticket).

A legal connection is generally 45 minutes or more, so yes, it was legal, but the carry on hassles threw a spanner in the works.

But, at least you didn't have to pay an additional fee on UA, right?

BTW, did you happen to notice how Australian and Kiwi travelers on Air NZ flights very seldom have much carry on luggage? They're well trained. You can usually pick out the North American tourists from the pack, simply by looking at what they're carrying on.