Given a flight path with one or several layovers, how do I know at which layover(s) I have to retrieve my checked luggage?
Given a flight path with one or several layovers, how do I know at which layover(s) I have to retrieve my checked luggage?
I know that I can ask the check-in front desk that gives me the boarding passes but they might give some incorrect information, in which case I am still the one responsible for my luggage.
Best Answer
There are two cases:
Your layover isn't a layover, but rather a separate ticket. Or, for some other reason, your luggage is "short checked" to an intermediate destination. In this case, it is your responsibility to get the bags. The check-in agent will tell you. Your best protection against incorrect information is to read the destination on the tag applied to your checked baggage and on the receipt that you are given to carry with you.
Your layover is in a country where all arriving international passengers must claim their luggage for the purpose of customs inspection. In this case, the bag is tagged for your final destination, but you must pick it up, clear customs, and re-check it at the layover airport. This will be announced by the cabin crew shortly before landing. Furthermore, airports in these countries are designed so that all arriving international passengers must pass through the baggage claim area before getting to their next flight.
If you do manage to get to your next flight without your bag, the airline will forward it to you just as if it had been lost or misdirected for another reason.
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Do I have to recheck my luggage on a connecting flight?
If your flights were booked under one ticket, your bags will be checked through to your final destination. If your flights were booked under separate tickets, you will need to collect your bags and recheck them before your connecting flight.Do you get your checked bags during a layover?
Finding Out at the Check-in Counter On the label, it will say where the bag is headed to. If it says that it's heading to the layover destination, not the final one, then you'll get your checked luggage when you land at the layover destination.How do I know if I have a connecting flight or layover?
What is the difference between a layover and connecting flight? While these terms are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. A layover is the time you spend at the airport between two flights. A connecting flight is the next flight in your itinerary that you're waiting at the airport to take.Do you have to recheck luggage on overnight layovers?
If you have an overnight layover, you can request to retrieve your luggage at baggage claim so that you have all of your items with you. However, you'll need to recheck your luggage in the morning, so plan additional time for going through security again.A Basic Guide to Layovers
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Answer 2
Of course, we'll consider that the itinerary is on a single ticket/booking, otherwise of course you have to retrieve your bags when switching from one booking to the next. Luggage tag will show the layover point in that case.
The same applies if you actually have a stopover and not a layover, of course. Luggage tag will show the stopover point.
The same applies if you change airports. Have no idea what the luggage tag shows.
If you arrive in the US from an international origin, you have to retrieve your bags to clear customs, whatever the final destination. The luggage tag still shows the final destination and not where you retrieve your bags.
The same rule may apply to other countries as well at least in the international-to-domestic scenario, but it's not universal (you don't retrieve your bags when arriving in the EU from a non-EU origin and you transfer to an EU airport with customs facilities or to a non-EU flight).
I believe if you arrive in the EU from a non-EU origin and you transfer to an EU airport without customs facilities you have to retrieve your bags to clear customs, though I never experienced this so I can't confirm it. No idea what the luggage tag shows.
Not so easy to find a generic rule...
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