Cant Get Any Sense Out Of Thai Airways....Help Please?

[PostmanPat]

Am travelling from Chiang Mai to Nairobi Kenya. Thai Airways to BKK, Kenya Airways BKK to Nairobi. Thai Airways are not in partnership with Kenya Airways so they tell me they will tag my bag all the way from Chiang Mai to Nairobi, but they cant issue my onward boarding pass from BKK to Nairobi and that I have to "check in again" with Kenya Airways at BKK.

Anyone know how this works in practice? Do I have to treat CM to BKK as a domestic flight , leave the airport at BKK then check in again with Kenya Airways and do my immigration at BKK ?

In recent years I have always done my immigration at CM, then transitted at BKK....easy peasy......but then was using Bangkok Airways for the CM to BKK leg, with both boarding passes issued at the Bangkok Airways check in at Chiang Mai.

Can anyone help regarding this apparent confusion.....I guess I m not the first person to be linking to an airline that Thai is not in partnership with?

[ubonjoe]

Moved to the travel forum.

[Chicog]

Anyone know how this works in practice? Do I have to treat CM to BKK as a domestic flight , leave the airport at BKK then check in again with Kenya Airways and do my immigration at BKK ?

Correct.

But I'd suggest at CNX you check in at International, not domestic, to get your bag checked through, or they might get confused.

But you don't have to leave the airport at BKK, you just get off at the domestic gate, walk to International Departures and check in there.

You'd pretty well have to cover the same distance walking in transit anyway.

Do Kenya airways have Online Check In?

If so, print your own boarding pass and then you only need to go to the online check-in desk and confirm your bag is being transferred (never assume that it is!).

According to their website it isn't clear:

Online Check in

You can now check in online with an e-ticket from 30 hours until 2 hours before departure!

Jump the longs queues at selected airports and choose your preferred seat and print out your boarding pass at your convenience. At the airport, drop off your luggage at the dedicated online check in drop off point and proceed to the boarding gate. Online check in is now leaps and bounds ahead with Kenya Airways.

[Ricardo]

Check-in at CNX at the International-side, get your bag sent all-the-way-through, and clear Immigration at CNX.

You will be given the little blue sticker to wear at check-in, so will be directed into international-transfer at Swampy, then go to the Kenya Airways transfer-desk (all the way to the far-end of the airport, it's only a 1 km walk !) near the junction of piers D/E/F, where they will issue you your boarding-pass & ensure that your hold-luggage gets loaded.

Then proceed to gate as normal.

No problem !

[PostmanPat]

Thank you Ricardo, that sounds much better....now I recall having to do exactly that a couple of times in the past, so you dont in effect have to go outside and join the queue at the main Kenya Airways check in desk.....I remember the kilometre walk as well !!

[steven100]

I wouldn't wanna go back to Kenya either .........

[StatlerandWaldorf]

If I were you to play it safe, and if you have the time in BKK is to just treat the whole thing as 2 separate trips. Check in domestic to BKK collect your bag, go upstairs and check in again for the international flight.

I say this purely from the standpoint of the likelyhood of your bag/s going astray if you try to check all the way through with 2 different airlines who are not within the same group. I think the hassle of rechecking in in BKK outweighs the potential hassle of not having your bag/s when you arrive in Kenya.

Technically there should be no issues with checking all the way through but I just like to minimise the risk where I can.

[Gillyflower]

Last trip home, I went Bangkok Airways CM/Bkk/Paris/Toulouse. I checked in at International and the girl told me I would have to do the same...collect and start again Bkk. I told her that I had never done that before and it had always been checked through. I went to sit in the Lounge near the Gate and some time later they actually came to look for me to tell me that everything was OK etc etc. Actually they had made a mistake but made it sound like they were doing me a great favour.

The OP may very well find the same thing happening to him.

This actually did happen to me a few years back. I travelled with Air France T'louse to Rome, then China Airlines to Bangkok. AF couldn't get me through to Bkk, because China Airlines hadn't started work and their lines weren't open (This was 10 am.) I tell you it was not fun getting from Domestic to the International with a heavy bag, then through Customs and all the rigamarole. The plane took off 20 minutes late, because of me.

Edited December 17, 2015 by Gillyflower

[KhunBENQ]

I join #7.

Its not rocket science to move the suitcase from domestic arrival to international departure.

Don't even show your connection when checking in domestically.

I assume you have a reasonable stopover time?

For me it feels better when I see it rolling away from the international check-in.

Improves the chance for a reunion.

Edited December 17, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[geisha]

Ricardo is right, easy, just go get your boarding card in transfer, like we used to do before.

[Pakaty]

If I were you to play it safe, and if you have the time in BKK is to just treat the whole thing as 2 separate trips. Check in domestic to BKK collect your bag, go upstairs and check in again for the international flight.

I say this purely from the standpoint of the likelyhood of your bag/s going astray if you try to check all the way through with 2 different airlines who are not within the same group. I think the hassle of rechecking in in BKK outweighs the potential hassle of not having your bag/s when you arrive in Kenya.

Technically there should be no issues with checking all the way through but I just like to minimise the risk where I can.

One possible problem with doing that is that flying domestically you may not have the same baggage allowance as the international leg of the journey. If you check in all on one itinerary the higher baggage allowance of the international leg applies to the domestic leg as well. If you don't have much baggage then obviously it's no big deal.

[sandyf]

If I were you to play it safe, and if you have the time in BKK is to just treat the whole thing as 2 separate trips. Check in domestic to BKK collect your bag, go upstairs and check in again for the international flight.

I say this purely from the standpoint of the likelyhood of your bag/s going astray if you try to check all the way through with 2 different airlines who are not within the same group. I think the hassle of rechecking in in BKK outweighs the potential hassle of not having your bag/s when you arrive in Kenya.

Technically there should be no issues with checking all the way through but I just like to minimise the risk where I can.

Each to his own. Last year I booked 2 flights, Montreal to London with Air Canada and then London to Cologne with German Wings. Before we came to fly German Wings moved into Terminal 2 at Heathrow, same terminal as Air Canada.

When we checked in at Montreal I asked if there was any chance of checking through to Cologne, not a problem. They checked in the bags and we got boarding passes for both flights. That was a real bonus as it meant my wife did not have to pass through immigration at Heathrow.