Bangkok Airways - New Baggage Transfer Law

[Kered]

According to Bangkok Airways they are no longer going to transfer baggage from a domestic flight to an international carrier from March 2016 unless the passenger holds a single through ticket issued by an International airline. They state that this is a new law that will apply to all airlines in Thailand.

They have already introduced it for Qantas and British Airways and claim that it has been in force with Qantas for some months now at the request of Qantas. When I checked in at Chiang Mai last week with a Bangkok Airways ticket to Bangkok and an onward business class ticket to Melbourne Bangkok Airways refused to check my baggage through to Melbourne, something that I have done many times in the past. In fact I have a printout from the Bangkok Airways site showing the airlines that they will transfer baggage to and some including Qantas that they will also issue boarding cards for. Apparently the arrangements have been cancelled although no one as far as I am aware has been told and I am a frequent flyer with both Airlines. When I went online to check I found that the Bangkok Airways website is partly under reconstruction and the Through Check In information is not available! I called Qantas in Bangkok who knew nothing about the arrangement and the Qantas representative spoke to the claimed most senior person from Bangkok Airways at Chiang Mai but they would do nothing and just insisted that it was now the law in Thailand and that they could not check in my baggage although I already had boarding cards for the Qantas flight. They insisted that since I had a Bangkok Airways ticket to Bangkok that I had to collect my baggage and check in with Qantas at Bangkok then go through security and immigration which as many know is a painful process in Bangkok made worse by the fact that the Bangkok Airways flight was an hour late departing.

It would be interesting to know if others have had the same experience or are aware of the new arrangements. The crew on board the Qantas flight had never heard of it and I have so far been unable to contact anyone in Qantas who can provide any information.

Edited January 19, 2016 by seedy
font

[Ricardo]

I hope this was just a one-off experience, as it would surely cause all sorts of delays & missed-connections, by people (like me !) who've already booked on PG or TG with a tight-connection in Bangkok !

Thanks to the OP for highlighting the potential problem !

[Braveheart24]

Worked for me with Emirates in Dec. No through ticket. Will surely check before next time.

[Kered]

Worked for me with Emirates in Dec. No through ticket. Will surely check before next time.

According to what Bangkok Airways told me it only applies to Qantas and British Airways and one other, I think it was possibly Lufthansa, at present but will be extended to all airlines in March.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Kered

[Maestro]

I am a bit confused. At one point, the OP says he had a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Australia, then he says he had a Qantas flight.

[Kered]

I am a bit confused. At one point, the OP says he had a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Australia, then he says he had a Qantas flight.

Perhaps you are confused as there was no mention of Thai in my original post. The problem was between Bangkok Airways and Qantas but according to Bangkok Airways it will apply to other airlines from March.

[Maestro]

You are right. My mistake.

...When I checked in at Chiang Mai last week with a Bangkok Airways ticket to Bangkok and an onward business class ticket to Melbourne Bangkok Airways refused to check my baggage through to Melbourne...

You did not mention with what airline your "business class ticket to Melbourne" was and I mistakenly assumed that it was with Thai Airways, the associated airline of Bangkok airways.

[geriatrickid]

Nothing new here. This is how interline baggage transfers work. Unless there is a specific agreement between the airlines, or its a codeshare flight, there shouldn't be any through checks. The reason is quite simple. Let's say Bangkok Airways takes a bag from a Qantas pax in HKT and tags it through to SYD. The bag goes missing and isn't loaded onto the Qantas flight. Guess who is responsible for the lost luggage claim? Qantas. Qantas has always had the official policy that there is no interline baggage transfer for non One World airlines unless the journey is on one ticket.

[Kered]

Nothing new here. This is how interline baggage transfers work. Unless there is a specific agreement between the airlines, or its a codeshare flight, there shouldn't be any through checks. The reason is quite simple. Let's say Bangkok Airways takes a bag from a Qantas pax in HKT and tags it through to SYD. The bag goes missing and isn't loaded onto the Qantas flight. Guess who is responsible for the lost luggage claim? Qantas. Qantas has always had the official policy that there is no interline baggage transfer for non One World airlines unless the journey is on one ticket.

If you are correct this must be one of these rules that has been around for some time and never enforced until as often happens in Thailand someone sees an advantage in enforcing it. There is a code share agreement between Bangkok Airways and Qantas and the PG flight which I was on also showed a Qantas number on the departure monitor.

Having travelled a few million miles with Qantas over the years I have never encountered this problem and have transferred baggage through from many airlines in many parts of the world.

I eventually managed to contact someone in Qantas Frequent Flyer who was unaware of the rule and also did not know that Qantas has a code share agreement with Bangkok Air. At his request I have emailed all the details to Qantas FF dept. and await a response which I will post when received.