switching airlines for different legs of a trip
 

I am planning a trip for this July going Detroit to San Francisco and then returning from LA to Detroit. The outbound trip that Expedia offers me puts me on Northwest from Detroit to Chicago and then puts me on American from Chicago to San Francisco. The return trip is all on American.

Has anyone switched airlines like this on a trip? When I get to Chicago, will I need to claim and recheck my luggage because I'm switching airlines? Will I need to recheck in and go through security again?

I will call Expedia about this before booking but I just wondered if anyone had done this.

Instead of calling Expedia, I'd call Northwest and find out if they have a codeshare with American, which would make things much easier for you. I've done this successfully, but not with these two airlines. Also, have you checked Orbitz? They often have lots more combinations of flights available, perhaps you could get a smoother (and cheaper!) combination through them... Orbitz also went to bat for me when one of my airlines cancelled a flight, they negotiated between the two airlines on my behalf.

As long as your itinerary is all domestic you should be able to check your luggage all the way thru even though you are changing airlines. The big issue is time. AA at O'hare uses Terminal 3, Concourses G-L and Northwest uses Terminal 2, so you may have something of a hike. You may indeed need to recheck security - at one time you had to go outside security area to change terminals but maybe not now. You can get more info on O'hare at http://www.ohare.com/fidsohare/

Since Northwest doesn't operate a codeshare with Northwest I doubt if there's a baggage handling arrangement between Northwest and American (you can check with either airline just to be sure). If there's no arrangement you will have to claim your luggage in Chicago and recheck it with American when you get your boarding pass for the American flight (here again I don't think Northwest will issue them for you). This effectively means you will need enough time to claim your luggage, check in at American and reclear security in Chicago. The other drwaback is you would be traveling on two separate tickets which means if you miss your American flight because your Northwest flight is delayed or you don't have enough time to claim and re-check your luggage American has no obligation to get you to your final destination and you risk losing your space on the return flight.

If you do this ticketing make sure you allow yourself plenty of time between flights in Chicago.

Codeshare has <b>NOTHING</b> to do with this discussion. Lots and lots of airlines have interline baggage agreement all around the world, and in the US, while codeshare is much more limited.

Just call NW and AA and asked them if they have interline baggage agreement.

Thanks rkkwan, I didn't realize codeshares and baggage agreements were not the same. Sorry Pat!

Call both airlines. When you check-in on the first lag of the trip show your connecting ticket to the agent and verify that your bags will be check all the way through. This summer we have tickets on Delta to Seattle and then Alaska Air to Juneau. We got a different story from both airlines. Delta said they won't transfer our bags to Alasks Air. Alaska Air said they do it all the time with Delta. We have planned enough time to collect our bags in Seattle and then re-check in.

Although I flew between different cities, I have changed airlines just as you described. My baggage was checked and arrived with no fanfare. I, on the other hand, had a terrible time. I flew into a teminal that was strictly AA, but I flew out on another airline. The AA terminal only had postings for their own flights, nothing on other arrivals/departures. I didn't even know which terminal I need to switch to. It was very frustrating. I had to go outside, stand in the Texas heat and wait for a shuttle to go to a different terminal, then go back through security. As luck would have it, when I got to the 2nd terminal, it was not the right one either, and I had to go through the same drill again and go to a third terminal! Had I known all of this I would have known that I needed more info before flying, and I hope this pathetic tale of woe (sniff) will help you in that endeavor! Bottom line, your luggage stands a better chance of an easy flight than you do! ;)

If your luggage can be checked through, you can easily walk between terminals 1,2 and 3 at O'Hare. You don't need to go through security.

If you DO have to claim and recheck bags, allow a good amount of time - AA/Terminal 3 in particular can be brutal because terminal two is being remodeled and much traffic has shifted over. For anyone going through O'Hare, check out the smaller security stations at the far ends of the terminals (as you enter, one is on the absolute left end of terminal 1, another on the right end of terminal 3). They can save you a lot of time.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I decided not to do this since there was &lt; 2 hours between flights and I just didn't want to chance it in case we did have to reclaim luggage and recheck it. I found another set of flights that is a little more costly but has us staying on a single airline. Plus the arrival time coming home was earlier, an important consideration when arriving home on Sunday night and having to return to work Monday morning!