sue

I want to buy a ticket to London, England, from Airline A from their web site. I also want to buy a ticket from Airline B, which will take me from Heathrow airport to my European destination. Airline B's ticket I want to purchase from Expedia. (this, for reasons of cost.)<BR><BR>Airline A and Airline B are not 'partner' airlines, so I'm wondering how or if it is possible for Airline A to 'ticket me through' at Heathrow. In other words, I want to connect at Heathrow in around 2.5 hours, so I don't want to have my luggage marked Heathrow, or I'll wind up having to go through customs at Heathrow, and I don't have time for this.<BR><BR>This question will probably strike some as incredibly naive but bear with me, I've never 'ticketed through' internationally before, have no idea about the rules. The experience of some wise traveller is appreciated, thanks.

Maurice

That's a good question - I wonder too. I have heard (In N.A.) that on unaffiliated airlines, you're on your own. If you are late with one airline, you're possibly out of luck if you miss the second airline. Is this true?

Mr. McKay

Simply use the formula:<BR>(A + B cubed) divided by (sum of [miles flown] and [ticket price rounded up]) multiplied by 2.5 hours. Easy.<BR><BR>Or just call the airlines and ask.

Vita

Calling the airline would be your best option. If you're interested in an anecdote, I purchased tickets for two non-partner airlines, United and Alitalia, using Expedia. United checked my baggage through to Rome, but I still had to go to Alitalia's check-in at Newark to get my boarding pass. I could not pass security without one. I've never been to Heathrow, but Airline A should be able to give you the minimum connection time required for that airport. I would guess that 2.5 hours should be enough time to get through the check-in line.

Sue

Dear Mr. McKay. In anticipation, perhaps, of your helpful response, I have indeed been calling the airlines. While they are unfailingly polite, and eagerly promise to address my concerns, their replies have thus far been inconclusive. Indeed, it was due to just such experiences that I resorted to conducting my business on the web in the first place, but alas, the web sites of the airlines in question were woefully lacking in the information I needed. Thus, my appeal to this board. <BR><BR>Vita - thank you for relating your anecdote. I am encouraged to learn that unrelated airlines have been known to check baggage through to the point of final destination, since this was my real concern. Unfortunately, in your case your connection point was domestic, and there would have been no need for you to clear customs and immigration, as there would be at an international point, even without baggage. But again, thanks for taking the time to reply.<BR><BR>Anyone else?

Mary

Sue,<BR>It won't be a problem. We've arrived back in Australia today having flown Venice-Zurich-Singapore-Melbourne - changing airlines at Zurich. The luggage was checked in at venice through to melbourne. You must give the check-in staff your tickets for both flights and tell them to check it through. obviously check that the bar code tag gives the correct destination too!

Sue

Mary, thank you so much for your reply. I had a tiny hunch things might be as you report, that there must be some form of international rule for baggage tagging which all airlines follow.<BR><BR>I'm still confused on one point. Were you issued both boarding passes at your original check-in, or did you need to go to the check-in area at Zurich in order to receive your boarding pass for your connecting airline? I should point out that my connecting airline, airline 'b' does not maintain check-in desks at my original point of departure. I'm wondering if it is ever the case that an airline issues boarding passes in respect of an airline with which it isn't affiliated.<BR><BR>What I'm hoping is that at a huge and busy airport such as Heathrow, there would be special check-in desks for through-connecting passengers to pick up boarding passes. My perception is that the airport might maintain such separate desks, in order to avoid having connecting passengers needlessly go through the time consuming formalities of entering a country, when these passengers plan to leave the country almost immediately.

s.fowler

Actually I think I've seen such beasties in Heathrow and in Zurich [there it is between A & B]... [transit checkin desks].

Sjoerd

If your first flight is on-time, and you allow min. 2 hours for the transfer, you won't have any problems. There are transfer counters at LHR to get a boarding pass for your second flight. <BR>Show both tickets to the check-in person at your departure airport and he/she will gladly label your luggage through to your final destination. (this is possible on almost all airlines, but there are exceptions! Some of the "cheapies" (Easyjet, Ryanair, etc.) don't do this, and El Al also doesn't always allow it.)<BR>HOWEVER, if you first flight is late and you arrive too late for the second flight, the second airlines does not have to give you another flight. They can say "bad luck, you are too late for check-in, you need to buy a new ticket".

Ann

I done that a few times, and they (various airlines) have always ticketed me through.<BR><BR>But I don't know what would happen if your first leg is delayed (haven't had that happen to me), since the first airline wouldn't be responsible for getting you on another flight.

Sue

Thanks s, Sjoerd, and Ann for your replies. Now all I have to do is decide how much risk tolerance I have for a late arriving flight. <BR><BR>A note to anyone interested: Some travel insurance policies will cover the cost of a missed connection, but only with a minimum connect time of 3 or 4 hours, depending on the insurer.

Surlok

Sue,<BR><BR>To my acknowledge, if both tickets,( no matter if one flight is on A, and the connecting flight on B), had been issued by the same airline, you could check in through, obviously. However, I 'm not sure you can do it, even showing both tickets when checking in for the first time, in spite of what others have said. It might be, it might be not...<BR><BR>Also, Heathrow is a huge airport, many terminals, and a lot of traffic, aerial and human. Are both flights at least landing/ taking over at the same terminal? Take this in consideration, besides any delay that might happen with your first flight.<BR><BR>I don't know about you, but I'm very badly oriented, and adding jet lag to this lack of orientation, it always get me more time to figure out what to do and where to go when I arrive to an airport, mostly to get a a connection flight, but then this is my own experience, and personal perspective.<BR><BR>There's a saying i Brazil, that sometimes, cheaper might become more expensive, as it would be, for ex. if you have to buy another ticket to get to your final destination, because you bought a discounted ticket/air fare, which rules doesn't allow you to get another, later flight, once you lost yours. So, also check what the rules are before you purchase these tickets.<BR><BR>Anyway, good luck, whatever you do.<BR><BR>Regards,<BR><BR>S

Surlok

Ooops.. I meant "are check in and out being done at the same terminal?"<BR><BR>Sorry,<BR><BR>S<BR><BR>

RBP

I fly from Heathrow quite a bit - can you provide some more details?<BR><BR>Chances are that unless you are flying BA to London, you'll arrive a term 3. Owards transfers to Europe are then via Term 2<BR><BR>More info and I can hopefully help?

Sue

Thank you for your offer of help RBP. I would be arriving in Terminal 3 at 7 a.m. (yeah, right : - ) ) The next part depends on which airline I choose for my next flight, neither of which is related to my original flight. Air France goes out of Terminal 2 at 9:30, British Airways out of Terminal 1 at 11:30. I'm leaning toward the BA flight because of the extra time allowed in the event my 6 hour or so overseas flight is late. <BR><BR>The Heathrow website tells me that transfer tickets are picked up in something called the Flight Connections Centre, which as far as I can tell is in between Terminals 1 and 2. So I guess my first question is, how long would you allow to get to the FCC, and what kind of congestion can I expect? As the busiest airport in the world, I'd think rather a lot....

Surlok

If you have the choice, I strongly advise you to pick up that BA flight, leaving at 11:30 AM. It gives you plenty of time, even if the first flight is delayed, and will make everything easier for you. <BR><BR>Goood luck and regards,<BR><BR>S

RBP

Sue<BR><BR>Based on the information you posted, I'd also suggest the 11.30 connection - not because its really difficult to navigate Heathrow BUT it does allow you more time in the event of a delayed first leg. <BR><BR>Once you arrive you'll need to get the bus to the flight connection centre (clearly sign posted in Term 3). Only then will you go thru security (you don't go thru customs when transferring from one international flight to another). Once completed, you'll then need to get to your new airline gate and get your new boarding pass.<BR><BR>At 7.00am in the morning it should take no longer than an hour from landing to your new departure gate and that includes the bus transfer between the terminals. I know that makes it sound like you'll have HOURS to kill - but the FCCs are nice - have decent facilities and shops etc. so you shouldn't be bored.<BR><BR>Heathrow IS big but transfers do usually run smoothly. I cannot see you having trouble with this process.<BR><BR>One thing more - I don't think you'll be able to "ticket thru" your luggage between airlines that don't code share. <BR><BR>PS When you say "the heathrow site" I assume you mean www.baa.co.uk - which probably has most of the info you need.<BR><BR>Good luck! (if anything isn't clear - please ask again!)

Gayle

We managed to pull this off. It went pretty smoothly on the way over, was a bit more of a nightmare returning shortly after Sept 11. We checked bags through AK Air, British Air, then Aer Lingus. I'd experienced the separate terminal thing before at Heathrow so allowed close to 3 hours for our transfer, so we could have coffee, etc. They did have a "transfer" desk. I couldn't direct you to it, but the airlines did a good job of pointing it out. In my case, the first airline was a partner of the second, but not the third. However, the third airline was a partner of the second. When I called the airlines, the third airline told me I absolutely couldn't check the luggare all the way through. However, we did and there was no problem. I was dubious at Heathrow, wondering if she should go look for it, but they had some kind of computer thing which tracked the bags and said "yes, they had been put on Aer Lingus". Good luck.

kelly

I have always checked baggage all the way thru, even on airlines that were not partners. The thing to ask is if they have a "baggage agreement" with each other. I believe Southwest Airlines does not have baggage agreements with the other US carriers, (although its possible this may have changed).

mary

We were given boarding cards at Zurich for the ZRH-SIN & Sin-Mel legs. At Venice we were only given cards to Zrh. I thnk this was because we were flying with a very small airline. I have to say that we were a bit concerned about the connections (they were very tight) but as long as your second airline knows which flight your arriving on they seem okay. Our flight from Venice was 1 hour late and we arrived in Zrh with only 10 minuted before departure time (very scary) - after a very long sprint from one end of the airport to the other we found that they were waiting for us as we'd advised them earlier of our flight number and they knew it was running late!