Baggage check through on second ticket on Samui's favorite Airline

[Truroboy]

Warning to all who book a second ticket from Samui to an international destination other than HK or Singapore on BBK airline

Having booked my ticket with Emirates from BKK to Dubai and onward to our final destination yesterday we went to book our ticket with BBK Airways from Samui to BBK to be told we could no longer have our luggage checked through to our final destination even though we are using a BBK partner airline and that we have to collect the luggage in BBK and check in again

What a pain and they showed me a letter from the VP of sales telling us this

So a word of warning make sure you leave time plenty of it to this stupid ruling as God know how many of us will miss connecting flights

Wrote to complain but got a standard cropped letter as an explanation

My friends left the Island for London this morning and enjoyed the same that please collect your luggage in BBK then check in again for their EVA Air flight

Hopeless thinking get you can go to HK or Sing then because you use BBK airlines international service they check you right though how bloody obscure is that

Needs to be changed BBK Airlines

[evadgib]

I hope this doesn't apply on incoming flights. If it does what is the point in such partnerships?

Would booking and paying your entire itinerary in one go have made any difference?

[Truroboy]

Yes it does apply to incoming and yes if you book less say Emirates from Samui say to London with one ticket then they will check you all the way

But my point is if they are code share partners WHY ARE THEY MAKING LIFE DIFFICULT

[Truroboy]

If you don't give more time to your homeward arrival you could be in real problems

So all need to be warned this is not just a Samui issue all need to be on notice

BKK need to change this policy let's change this though social media as it affects all travellers in Thailand

BKK Airlines need to change back to what they offered before

[Lung Mike]

Last month my family and I had the same problem flying to Japan. I had booked Samui-Bangkok with Bangkok Airways and Bangkok-Tokyo with JAL. My luggage could not be booked through because "I had not bought the tickets together", according to the less-than-helpful Bangkok Airways' stuck-up check-in staff. So we had to get out of the airport at Suvarnabhumi with all our luggage and then check in again with all the hassle and time-loss involved. I nearly missed my connecting flight because of this utter stupidity. I fly very often and this is the first time that Bangkok Airways has done this. "Thainess" at its best!

[concerned]

A disgusting change of policy, causing great inconvenience to customers.

Write to : [email protected] in the strongest terms. I did.

[ilCapitano79]

I'm flying next week with Qatar airways from Bkk to Doha at 9.00 am, I booked first Bangkok air flight thats 6 am landing 7 am, are you guys telling me that they wont connect my flights because I purchased tickets separetly?

Such a pain, I hope 2 hours between flights is enough to make it to the check in before they close it. Now I have to pray for no delays.

Should I upgrade to business class so my luggage comes out first as to not lose any important time? So annoyed right now.

edit: just saw this on their website http://www.bangkokair.com/pages/view/separate_ticket I have no idea what it means as it seems in example 4 that it still might be possible to check in bag and not pick them up in Bangkok!?

Edited May 8, 2016 by ilCapitano79

[Truroboy]

What example four shows is if you have ONE ticket through to destination then your luggage will be checked through

However if you have a separate ticket one from Samui to BBK then another one on a non international BBK Airlines flight they will NOT check your luggage to final destination hence you have to collect in BBK and check in again with the stress of missing your on going connection

Crazy rule and one that needs to change I wrote to them to complain and got a cropped reply which said nothing

Come on BBK Airlines change this madcap rule

[ilCapitano79]

Yeah I've emailed them as well, not that it will help my case next week but it might help someone down the road.

I'm on the fence to go one day earlier to Bangkok or try to make it with 6 am flight that lands at 7 am and my flight beeing at 9.05 am. Any suggestion would be much appreciated!

[nod]

I have also emailed them. I will await their reply. If I get merely platitudes, rather than the explanation I have requested, I will cut and paste my email to their facebook page. Can be rather more effective I believe.

[nod]

Copy of email I sent to their customer relations. Let's see how they reply.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am a very old and loyal customer of yours and have been using your excellent airline since about 1989.

Please check your records to confirm.

I do not often take time to write emails to complain about anything, but I would like to know if you are aware how upset many of your loyal customers are about your recent policy change regarding checking through of luggage to final destination.

Do you realise how inconvenient this is to many of your customers?

I have already heard from one of my friends how their friend has already missed a connecting International flight, even though they allowed enough time. Due to slight delay of flight from Sami, plus queuing for the luggage, then looking for the check in for International flight then queuing at that check in and further big queue to immigration exit, they missed their flight ! Not good!

I have heard from other people that this is not the only example.

Can I book a return flight to UK on Emirates Business class including your flights from Samui at your ticket office? I don't think so!

If I can at some future time, can I book online with your website on another airline and take advantage of any of their web offers? I don't think so !

Instead, I will have to book separately with them and have no chance to use my Resident Card status with you or collect my flyerbonus points. Why do you have this programme if you cannot use it for all flights?

I note that this may not apply to partner airlines, however, that means you take away your customer's choice of airline if they want to book separately or book luggage straight through.

I used to be a loyal business class customer of your partner airline Etihad, but now their service has become so much worse I will not travel with them anymore and therefore cannot take advantage of checking baggage right through. Not good.

Also, what about your older customers?! Now you will make them push all their luggage through the airport in Bangkok and standing in so many queues because of your new policy! Absolutely not fair!

Actually on my last trip from UK which I booked before your policy change, I came with Emirates Business Class and checked my luggage right through to Samui. Now on the way back, though I have booked my flight back on 25th June on your Business Class flight, you will make me pick up my baggage in Bkk and take it all the way to Emirates Business Class Check in and queue at Bkk Immigration to get out !!! Absolutely crazy and rude and inconvenient.

I cannot understand who is the winner here with this policy??? I know for sure who are the losers !!! Your passengers and loyal customers.

But also your airline is a loser, because even though your passengers love your service and airline, they will be standing in queues and carrying luggage and feeling so angry at you !!

For a company that take such good care of their promotion and good name and image, I am so surprised at you !

I could even understand it if you could delete some expense, like like Customs Service or Immigration at Samui, but you still have to keep them anyway for the customers with through booking anyway ! I am quite without understanding on this issue.

It is so very bad for your image and I know many people are upset by this.

I would really appreciate some honest answers about the reasons for these changes.

Regards,

Your loyal but frustrated customer,

[notmyself]

Been like that on and off for years. I book the entire flight on one ticket now and never have a problem, cheaper too.

[notmyself]

Copy of email I sent to their customer relations. Let's see how they reply.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am a very old and loyal customer of yours and have been using your excellent airline since about 1989.

Please check your records to confirm.

I do not often take time to write emails to complain about anything, but I would like to know if you are aware how upset many of your loyal customers are about your recent policy change regarding checking through of luggage to final destination.

Do you realise how inconvenient this is to many of your customers?

I have already heard from one of my friends how their friend has already missed a connecting International flight, even though they allowed enough time. Due to slight delay of flight from Sami, plus queuing for the luggage, then looking for the check in for International flight then queuing at that check in and further big queue to immigration exit, they missed their flight ! Not good!

I have heard from other people that this is not the only example.

Can I book a return flight to UK on Emirates Business class including your flights from Samui at your ticket office? I don't think so!

If I can at some future time, can I book online with your website on another airline and take advantage of any of their web offers? I don't think so !

Instead, I will have to book separately with them and have no chance to use my Resident Card status with you or collect my flyerbonus points. Why do you have this programme if you cannot use it for all flights?

I note that this may not apply to partner airlines, however, that means you take away your customer's choice of airline if they want to book separately or book luggage straight through.

I used to be a loyal business class customer of your partner airline Etihad, but now their service has become so much worse I will not travel with them anymore and therefore cannot take advantage of checking baggage right through. Not good.

Also, what about your older customers?! Now you will make them push all their luggage through the airport in Bangkok and standing in so many queues because of your new policy! Absolutely not fair!

Actually on my last trip from UK which I booked before your policy change, I came with Emirates Business Class and checked my luggage right through to Samui. Now on the way back, though I have booked my flight back on 25th June on your Business Class flight, you will make me pick up my baggage in Bkk and take it all the way to Emirates Business Class Check in and queue at Bkk Immigration to get out !!! Absolutely crazy and rude and inconvenient.

I cannot understand who is the winner here with this policy??? I know for sure who are the losers !!! Your passengers and loyal customers.

But also your airline is a loser, because even though your passengers love your service and airline, they will be standing in queues and carrying luggage and feeling so angry at you !!

For a company that take such good care of their promotion and good name and image, I am so surprised at you !

I could even understand it if you could delete some expense, like like Customs Service or Immigration at Samui, but you still have to keep them anyway for the customers with through booking anyway ! I am quite without understanding on this issue.

It is so very bad for your image and I know many people are upset by this.

I would really appreciate some honest answers about the reasons for these changes.

Regards,

Your loyal but frustrated customer,

It's a good letter though I fear it will fall on deaf ears. These 'rules' also may come from the AOT and the airline is just following them.

[This should be moved to the 'Bangkok Airways rant' thread]

[new2here]

Right or wrong there can be other issues that are not obvious to the passenger.

For one is any lost opportunities for the second (and possibly third, etc.) carrier to impose and collect baggage fees that may apply to that reservation, but if the bags are thru checked without the benefit of a legitimate thru ticket, then the second carrier looses out on their share of baggage fees that would commonly be shared as per interline agreements.

Example is that on Bangkok air (BKK-USM-BKK) you might get 32kgs, but on Emirates (BKK-LHR-BKK) you may only get 23.. So,mid BKK air thru checks the bag without a true interlined ticket, it's possible that Emirates looses out on the excess fee that might apply.

Second is liability. Since the standard is that the last carrier takes and administers the claim and pays any settlement if it gets to that point. With a true thru ticket all the carriers on that ticket all agree (per the interline agreement) to proportionally share in any claims costs. However, If a bag is improperly thru checked and claim comes up, it's possible that the "last" carrier really is taking a claim that might not truly be theirs to take.

Just like the first example, if Bangkok air makes an error and doesn't get the bag to Emirates in BKK its possible that when you arrive in London that the Emirates staff will take your claim and never know that it really should be Bangkok Air.

Interlined tickets are priced with these issues of liability and fee sharing in mind, so by one carrier improperly interlining bags that can cause issues with other carries, partners or not.

[notmyself]

Example is that on Bangkok air (BKK-USM-BKK) you might get 32kgs, but on Emirates (BKK-LHR-BKK) you may only get 23.. So,mid BKK air thru checks the bag without a true interlined ticket, it's possible that Emirates looses out on the excess fee that might apply.

Works both ways. Bangkok airways have honoured the allowance on my international flight. Never ever been an issue.

Certain industries have to coexist in order for it to exist at all. Take the international postage system for example.... If I send something to the UK then Thailand gets most of the money but if I send something here from the UK then the UK gets most of the money, it's a reciprocal agreement.

I think this is AOT business rather than the airline myself.

Airlines such as Air Asia do pretty much what they like. Been on loads of low cost flights over the years but never used them. From what I hear you have to pay extra for every last thing excluding a seatbelt. Visa has expired and I'm on my last 30 extension so I need to shoot out somewhere for a couple of days and I figure KL from Surat or Penang from here. I go Penang quite often so I'm leaning toward KL. None of this has anything to do with the thread BTW

I've been using the airline since '99 and I can honestly say that I have never had a problem with them. This goes back to the thread in fact.... Before BKK opened in '06, all luggage had to be collected in DM and you had to walk a long way down an elevated corridor to domestic and check in. If you hot footed it down there then you (upon request) would quite often get an earlier flight. This was all free.

The odd time I need to go to Bangkok I'll take an early flight and have one booked to return on the last flight down because if I'm not done by then, I'm going home. I really don't like Bangkok so whatever time I'm done I get a taxi to the airport. The airline has only once failed to get me on the very next flight, for free. Problem with most people is that they don't ask for anything.

[Bantex]

Book all flights on one ticket and luggage will be transferred automatically. I never book separate flights. More importantly if booked on one ticket and the first flight is delayed causing you to miss the second flight, the airline has to facilitate you with another flight, hotel as applicable. Book flights separate and your responsible for missed connections and re-booking plus paying for the new flights even if you can claim the cost back. When previously flying with connections booked on one ticket, delayed first flight caused me to miss last available connection and we were put up in hotel including airport / hotel return transfers, meals etc.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Bantex

[Birdman]

Right or wrong there can be other issues that are not obvious to the passenger.

For one is any lost opportunities for the second (and possibly third, etc.) carrier to impose and collect baggage fees that may apply to that reservation, but if the bags are thru checked without the benefit of a legitimate thru ticket, then the second carrier looses out on their share of baggage fees that would commonly be shared as per interline agreements.

Example is that on Bangkok air (BKK-USM-BKK) you might get 32kgs, but on Emirates (BKK-LHR-BKK) you may only get 23.. So,mid BKK air thru checks the bag without a true interlined ticket, it's possible that Emirates looses out on the excess fee that might apply.

Second is liability. Since the standard is that the last carrier takes and administers the claim and pays any settlement if it gets to that point. With a true thru ticket all the carriers on that ticket all agree (per the interline agreement) to proportionally share in any claims costs. However, If a bag is improperly thru checked and claim comes up, it's possible that the "last" carrier really is taking a claim that might not truly be theirs to take.

Just like the first example, if Bangkok air makes an error and doesn't get the bag to Emirates in BKK its possible that when you arrive in London that the Emirates staff will take your claim and never know that it really should be Bangkok Air.

Interlined tickets are priced with these issues of liability and fee sharing in mind, so by one carrier improperly interlining bags that can cause issues with other carries, partners or not.

If you have more luggage the second airline allows, you could never check it through. Although it mostly was quite the opposite. PG 20kgs and others more and the passengers did not know that and had to pay to PG for excess luggage.

And the last airline, from which you get the luaggage always is responsible for the luggage and will investigate what happened, in case.

[notmyself]

I think you are being unreasonable truroboy.

[KhunBENQ]

Join the rant crowd and don't feel alone

Bangkok Air is now the worst Airline in the World

Edited May 9, 2016 by KhunBENQ

[new2here]

Book all flights on one ticket and luggage will be transferred automatically. I never book separate flights. More importantly if booked on one ticket and the first flight is delayed causing you to miss the second flight, the airline has to facilitate you with another flight, hotel as applicable. Book flights separate and your responsible for missed connections and re-booking plus paying for the new flights even if you can claim the cost back. When previously flying with connections booked on one ticket, delayed first flight caused me to miss last available connection and we were put up in hotel including airport / hotel return transfers, meals etc.

Correct. That's the benefits of having a true connection ticket. Otherwise, in separate tickets, what you really have is an onward ticket. ... and under that scenario, in most cases, you beat all risks for issue that occur between the two flights.

True connection tickets mean that you really have no "at risk" money in that IF you miss a connection, you don't have to pay more/again to get a seat on a new/later flight.

[new2here]

Right or wrong there can be other issues that are not obvious to the passenger.

For one is any lost opportunities for the second (and possibly third, etc.) carrier to impose and collect baggage fees that may apply to that reservation, but if the bags are thru checked without the benefit of a legitimate thru ticket, then the second carrier looses out on their share of baggage fees that would commonly be shared as per interline agreements.

Example is that on Bangkok air (BKK-USM-BKK) you might get 32kgs, but on Emirates (BKK-LHR-BKK) you may only get 23.. So,mid BKK air thru checks the bag without a true interlined ticket, it's possible that Emirates looses out on the excess fee that might apply.

Second is liability. Since the standard is that the last carrier takes and administers the claim and pays any settlement if it gets to that point. With a true thru ticket all the carriers on that ticket all agree (per the interline agreement) to proportionally share in any claims costs. However, If a bag is improperly thru checked and claim comes up, it's possible that the "last" carrier really is taking a claim that might not truly be theirs to take.

Just like the first example, if Bangkok air makes an error and doesn't get the bag to Emirates in BKK its possible that when you arrive in London that the Emirates staff will take your claim and never know that it really should be Bangkok Air.

Interlined tickets are priced with these issues of liability and fee sharing in mind, so by one carrier improperly interlining bags that can cause issues with other carries, partners or not.

If you have more luggage the second airline allows, you could never check it through. Although it mostly was quite the opposite. PG 20kgs and others more and the passengers did not know that and had to pay to PG for excess luggage.

And the last airline, from which you get the luaggage always is responsible for the luggage and will investigate what happened, in case.

Yes, the last airline takes any baggage claim. But the more accurate statement should be "the last carrier ON THAT TICKET takes all baggage claims at the destination point.

That's why I used the example that if your bags are tagged improperly against the interline agreements, if you have an issue/claim, it MAY be that because of the improper interlinking, the wrong carrier is taking and paying for the claim.

[Neilly]

I've been hit by this three times (twice out and once back) in the last six weeks (I work in the Middle East). I tried to get a 'single' ticket out this last time, to no avail. The company I work for uses an agent for the tickets (approx 40 expats) and after asking several times I still ended up with two tickets (combined on one page, bless em). The national carrier of the country I work in doesn't code-share with Bandit Airways so as far as I can tell I'm screwed.

Bsd posted the quote below on the other thread mentioned above...so at least I understand what's going on, even if I can't do anything about it.

There is in Thailand a process called CIQ (Customs Immigration and Quarantine) where if you were flying from one of the 8 largest provincial airports to Suvarnabhumi and then connecting to an international flight you can check in for both flights at the provincial airport, clear security and immigration at the provincial airport, take your domestic flight and then use a special security check point to access the international departure level, and finally collect your bags in London or where ever it is that you were flying to.

So you do have to clear security between flights.

The big advantage of this is that the security and immigration queues at an airport like Samui (owned by Bangkok Air) is non-existent. So you can arrive at Samui airport an hour before your flight to Bangkok and only have say 90 minutes as the connection time in Bangkok because you know that you are not going to be stuck in any queues.

The issue here is that airlines have 2 basic types of agreements:

1. Interline - where you can check in bags on each other flights as long as the customer has a valid ticket (and sometimes print boarding passes as well).
2. Code share - Where you sell tickets on each other flights.

Previously Bangkok Air had about 30 inter-line agreements and 3 codeshare agreements, so you would turn up at Samui Airport with 2 tickets (Bangkok Air USM->BKK and BA BKK->LHR) and they would check you in to both flights and you would travel CIQ as above.

Now Bangkok Air has about 10 codeshare agreements and are saying they won’t interline. So if you turn up with 2 tickets you have to collect your bags in Bangkok and check in for your international flight and clear security there. If you have 1 ticket (which you have to buy from the airline that isn’t Bangkok Air because they don’t sell tickets on flights they don't operate even when they code share on the flight) they will check you through like they used to.

[khunPer]

I've been hit by this three times (twice out and once back) in the last six weeks (I work in the Middle East). I tried to get a 'single' ticket out this last time, to no avail. The company I work for uses an agent for the tickets (approx 40 expats) and after asking several times I still ended up with two tickets (combined on one page, bless em). The national carrier of the country I work in doesn't code-share with Bandit Airways so as far as I can tell I'm screwed.

Bsd posted the quote below on the other thread mentioned above...so at least I understand what's going on, even if I can't do anything about it.

There is in Thailand a process called CIQ (Customs Immigration and Quarantine) where if you were flying from one of the 8 largest provincial airports to Suvarnabhumi and then connecting to an international flight you can check in for both flights at the provincial airport, clear security and immigration at the provincial airport, take your domestic flight and then use a special security check point to access the international departure level, and finally collect your bags in London or where ever it is that you were flying to.

So you do have to clear security between flights.

The big advantage of this is that the security and immigration queues at an airport like Samui (owned by Bangkok Air) is non-existent. So you can arrive at Samui airport an hour before your flight to Bangkok and only have say 90 minutes as the connection time in Bangkok because you know that you are not going to be stuck in any queues.

The issue here is that airlines have 2 basic types of agreements:

1. Interline - where you can check in bags on each other flights as long as the customer has a valid ticket (and sometimes print boarding passes as well).
2. Code share - Where you sell tickets on each other flights.

Previously Bangkok Air had about 30 inter-line agreements and 3 codeshare agreements, so you would turn up at Samui Airport with 2 tickets (Bangkok Air USM->BKK and BA BKK->LHR) and they would check you in to both flights and you would travel CIQ as above.

Now Bangkok Air has about 10 codeshare agreements and are saying they won’t interline. So if you turn up with 2 tickets you have to collect your bags in Bangkok and check in for your international flight and clear security there. If you have 1 ticket (which you have to buy from the airline that isn’t Bangkok Air because they don’t sell tickets on flights they don't operate even when they code share on the flight) they will check you through like they used to.

There is a notice – that seem to have been sitting there some time – glued to the check-in counters in Samui Airport explaining that from (I think I was) end of March 2016, you can only check-in CIQ if your ticket is a Bangkok Airways code-share ticket, bought from one of their code-share partners.

Believe the good old time era with CIQ has ended – also the other way, checking-in abroad, you cannot check your luggage through to Samui anymore, so you need to count longer transfer time in Bangkok (or...) to collect your baggage and queue at the busy Immigration there – sad...

[evadgib]

I've been hit by this three times (twice out and once back) in the last six weeks (I work in the Middle East). I tried to get a 'single' ticket out this last time, to no avail. The company I work for uses an agent for the tickets (approx 40 expats) and after asking several times I still ended up with two tickets (combined on one page, bless em). The national carrier of the country I work in doesn't code-share with Bandit Airways so as far as I can tell I'm screwed.

Bsd posted the quote below on the other thread mentioned above...so at least I understand what's going on, even if I can't do anything about it.

There is in Thailand a process called CIQ (Customs Immigration and Quarantine) where if you were flying from one of the 8 largest provincial airports to Suvarnabhumi and then connecting to an international flight you can check in for both flights at the provincial airport, clear security and immigration at the provincial airport, take your domestic flight and then use a special security check point to access the international departure level, and finally collect your bags in London or where ever it is that you were flying to.

So you do have to clear security between flights.

The big advantage of this is that the security and immigration queues at an airport like Samui (owned by Bangkok Air) is non-existent. So you can arrive at Samui airport an hour before your flight to Bangkok and only have say 90 minutes as the connection time in Bangkok because you know that you are not going to be stuck in any queues.

The issue here is that airlines have 2 basic types of agreements:

1. Interline - where you can check in bags on each other flights as long as the customer has a valid ticket (and sometimes print boarding passes as well).
2. Code share - Where you sell tickets on each other flights.

Previously Bangkok Air had about 30 inter-line agreements and 3 codeshare agreements, so you would turn up at Samui Airport with 2 tickets (Bangkok Air USM->BKK and BA BKK->LHR) and they would check you in to both flights and you would travel CIQ as above.

Now Bangkok Air has about 10 codeshare agreements and are saying they won’t interline. So if you turn up with 2 tickets you have to collect your bags in Bangkok and check in for your international flight and clear security there. If you have 1 ticket (which you have to buy from the airline that isn’t Bangkok Air because they don’t sell tickets on flights they don't operate even when they code share on the flight) they will check you through like they used to.

There is a notice – that seem to have been sitting there some time – glued to the check-in counters in Samui Airport explaining that from (I think I was) end of March 2016, you can only check-in CIQ if your ticket is a Bangkok Airways code-share ticket, bought from one of their code-share partners.

Believe the good old time era with CIQ has ended – also the other way, checking-in abroad, you cannot check your luggage through to Samui anymore, so you need to count longer transfer time in Bangkok (or...) to collect your baggage and queue at the busy Immigration there – sad...

??

Service was normal between LHR & USM a few days ago.