If you are a new flier or maybe it's been a while since you have last flown, a question
I get asked a lot is, do you need to recheck your luggage if you have connecting flights?
And the answer is it depends.
So in this video I am going to break down everything you
need to know about checking a bag with a connecting flight.
And be sure to stick around towards the end of the video where I will
share some helpful tips about connecting flights.
Let's get it
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So I am actually gonna go kind of deep here into this question because I think it's important,
especially as a new flier what you're getting
yourself into when booking flights with the connection.
So I am going to answer a few questions here.
Number one, what do you need to know before booking a flight with a connection?
Number two, what are some ways you can check to see if
you will need to recheck your bag between flights?
And three, what is the process if you do have to recheck your bags between flights?
Then I will give you some bonus tips at the end.
So let's start with the first question.
What do you need to know about booking flights with a connection?
First, if you are booking your flights directly
on the airline's website and you end up with a connecting flight,
you are not going to have to worry about rechecking your luggage at the connecting city.
The airline will move your luggage onto your next flight for you.
All you have to worry about once you arrive at the connecting airport is finding your next gate.
Now if you are booking on an international flight, just about all the major airlines,
Delta, United, American all have partnerships with other international airlines.
And when you are booking through their websites, it may not be obvious to you that
you may end up booking on a different airline for your connecting flight
to that international destination that you are going to which may cause some confusion for you.
So let's look at an example.
Let's say you are booking a flight to France through Delta's website.
You search for available flights and you find one you like but you may overlook
this little note here which says your connecting flight will be on Air France.
Even though when you book it, it will look as though both your flights will be on Delta.
But don't worry about this.
This is common and in fact Delta and Air France do have a partnership and they will
move your bag between flights as long as you book their flights through Delta's website.
The issue becomes if you were to book your flights on a third party website like Kayak,
Expedia, or Priceline.
These sites are designed to help you get the cheapest fare
even if that means booking you on different airlines with no partnership whatsoever.
And this is especially true of international flights.
So you want to be careful of this.
So let's take a look at an example of this.
Here I am on Kayak's website and I am trying to go from Columbus to Seattle, Washington.
And Kayak gives me some options here.
I have Spirit airlines, United airlines and Kayak gives me the cheapest option
and it so happens as you can see here, it's a split between Spirit and Frontier airlines.
And I can tell you these two airlines are competing airlines.
They do not have a partnership with each other and so that means if I were
to choose this flight, I would have to check in separately with both airlines.
And if I am checking a bag, that means I am going have to go and
retrieve my bag between flights and recheck it in with Frontier airlines.
So this leads me into my second question I asked at the beginning of the video which is
what are the ways you can tell if you need to recheck your bag between flights.
So going back to my example you can see here this little warning icon and if you hover over it,
it's going to tell you that you may need to check yourself and your bags for each individual flight.
And I can tell you in this example yes, you will need to recheck your bags between flights,
and I'll explain how to do that in a minute.
But going back to the other ways you can tell if you need to recheck your bag
is from the baggage tag.
So when you check your bag in for a flight,
either through the kiosk or with one of the airline agents.
You will get a printed baggage tag that will go around the handle of your luggage
and it should have on it the final destination of the airport you are heading to.
All airports have a three letter identifier that will display on the baggage tag,
but it will also have the city of that airport spelled right above it.
So be sure to check the tag and make sure your bag is going all the way to
your final destination and not just to your connecting city.
The other way is just to ask the airline agent working the
check-in desk to make sure your bag is ending up at your final destination.
So let's now talk about what to do if you end up having to recheck your luggage between flights.
Here is the process.
First, once you get off the plane from your first flight
you are going to want to look for signs leading you to the baggage claim.
So because the baggage claim area is located outside the secured area,
that means you are going to have to leave the secured area to get your luggage.
Second, you will want to look at the display boards to find
out which carousel your bag will be arriving on.
Next, once you retrieve your bag you will need to
head to the check-in area of the airline you will be flying next
and recheck in your bag with that airline just as you did with the first airline you flew on.
Once your bag is checked you will then have to go through security again and then locate your gate.
This can be a lengthy process so I recommend that when you are booking your flights
that you give yourself at least two hours to complete this process.
For international flights even longer because you
will have to go through customs before you can head to the baggage claim area.
So here are some tips I have for you if you have connecting flights.
Tip number one.
Download an airport map.
Most airports have a map that you can download
onto your phone that can save you time if you ae in a hurry.
By doing this you will have fewer chances of
getting lost or missing your connecting flight, especially in a big airport.
Tip number two.
Don't book a tight connection.
Some airlines will allow you to book a connecting flight as close together as 35 minutes.
This is not a smart idea.
Even the smallest delay will cause you to miss your connecting flight
and if you think about how long it takes you to get off a plane and then on top of
that your next gate could be at an entirely different terminal.
So my recommendation is to give yourself at least an hour between
connecting flights and at least two hours for connecting international flights.
Tip number three.
Travel with carry-on bags.
If you can fit everything you need in a carry-on,
not only will you save on checked bag fees, but if you do end up having to book with
two different airlines you won't have to worry about rechecking your luggage between flights.
Which can save you significant time and stress.
And if you are a new flier and want to know how to navigate the entire airport process
or want to know what you can and cannot pack in your luggage.
Check out these videos here.
Thank you so much for watching this one and I look forward to seeing you in the next video.