According to OAG’s most recent report, “Self-Connection: The Rise and Roadblocks of a Growing Travel Booking Strategy,” 40 percent of U.S. travellers are bypassing typical booking practices, such as through an airline, travel agency or OTA, and are beginning to self-connect when they travel.
Self-connecting passengers are defined as those that book separate tickets to fly from City A to City C, via City B.
Already popular in Europe, self-connecting is beginning to increase in popularity in the U.S. market as passengers look to save money. Passengers can mix and match airlines in order to score the best deal or connect through a city they would like to visit on the way to their final destination. But what are some of the roadblocks and challenges to successfully self-connect, and how can airlines or airports make this process easier?
MH / Malaysia Airlines STILL HONOR connection protection and through checking / interlining on separate PNRs.
Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon reversed their policy and through check baggage on separate PNRs as of 1 Jan 2017. See post #1.
JL / Japan Airlines began through checking to oneworld partners again in Oct 2016.
Qatar Airways will through check baggage to oneworld partners if it’s the trip origin airline.
See Wikipost for this thread in oneworld forum for the list of oneworld airlines and known through checking policies.
Link to American Airlines' policy on through checking baggage as of 1 Sep 2016. Notice that different protocols are followed in IROPS / OSO conditions.
baggage when all the tickets are in the same PNR.
American to a non-oneworld carrier?
"Our policy on American to non-oneworld airline tickets has not changed.
tickets issued for each airline.
International flights on separate PNRs (or to non-oneworld carriers)  will usually require claiming bags, clearing customs and rechecking bags on another carrier to be continued to their next destination.
What will customers be charged if we can through check the bag?
The charges would depend on what tickets the customer holds in the same PNR.
Do Alaska and our other codeshare/interline partners count as affiliate airlines?
No, the oneworld affiliate airlines are generally the regional partners of the other oneworld carriers. If a customer held an AS ticket and an AA ticket in the same PNR we would not through check the bag. They would need to reclaim then recheck their bag with AS.
When issuing separate tickets it is important your customer be informed that American is unable to ‘through-check' bags with 2 separate tickets (PNRs) if they are traveling on American and non-oneworld carriers. This will result in an airport check-in representative collecting the required baggage fees based on each airline's established policies.
Please advise the customer to allow additional time to claim their baggage, present the required travel documents to enter the country, if relevant, and meet check-in requirements for the connecting flight. The Minimum Connecting Time (MCT) will usually not be sufficient when the customer has separate tickets issued for each airline.
Instead, those bags will only be tagged as far as the destination shown on each individual booking – not where you’re actually headed at the end of the trip. Both Qantas and American Airlines have confirmed the new arrangements to Australian Business Traveller.
With effect from 01 Jun 2016, all oneworld carriers have agreed that through* check-in will apply ONLY to passengers travelling on an oneworld itinerary ticketed on a single ticket or where segments are ticketed separately but in the same PNR.
*=Through services are defined as the customer and their baggage being through checked to their final destinations.
To align with the change, disruption policy will also be revised to exclude protection for passengers holding separate tickets that is not booked under the same PNR."
NOTE: CX will still offer protection and baggage interlining between Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon.
Gary Leff, View from the Wing, 16 Aug 2016: reached out to American and learned this new policy goes into effect September 1 although I’m not sure how they can retroactively apply it to tickets purchased before the new policy was implemented.
As of June 1, 2016, the oneworld alliance has eliminated these benefits for passengers booked on separate tickets. Oneworld carriers no longer have to check your bags through to other oneworld carriers if booked on a separate ticket, and no longer have to protect you in the event of a misconnect when on separate tickets."
"In a move which could cause connection chaos for many travellers, airlines belonging to the Oneworld (sic) alliance ... are no longer required to check passengers and their baggage through to their final destination on some connecting flights.
"The new scheme, which came into effect from June 1st (2016), impacts passengers whose journey involves flights on more than one airline where their travel encompasses more than one booking, rather than all flights being listed under a single booking reference. "
Important change! Qatar Airways has announced they will no longer adhere to oneworld's draconian baggage transfer policy when flights are booked on separate PNRs.
As long as MCT / minimum connection times are met, QR will interline baggage on separate oneworld PNRs as of 1 March 2017.
Australian Business Traveller found the change in the QR ground services manual issued 23 Feb 2017, verified by a QR spokesperson.
NOTE: If one is beginning travel with a one world airline adhering to the oneworld policy and continuing on Qatar, one flying on separate PNRs is still going to have to collect baggage and recheck with QR.
E.g. SFO-LAX on AA, LAX-DOH-CMB on QR, two PNRs - the first sector on AA, remainder on QR, AA will not respect QR ground handling rules so one will have to recover baggage at LAX and transfer it to the QR checkin counter.
On FT: oneworld no longer interlining between separate tickets / PNRs?
So if I understand correctly, the through-check baggage policy is gone now, but the IROPs protection remains?
This is great, but sad at the same time, I was sort of looking forward in using Flagship check in on our trip to Europe, however, this gives me more time to go check out all the lounges.
I've read through the updates and I am still a little confused. Here is my planned itinerary: HKG-SFO-ORD where HKG-SFO is through CX and SFO-ORD is through AA. The CX segment is booked as separate tickets than the AA segment due to mixed cabin and fare issues.The self-connection in SFO is just under 2 hours (which is over the 100 minute MCT from what I understand). Is that protected by AA? CX doesn't have a protection policy for separate tickets right? They'll only interline baggage?
Yes it should be protected, my response a few posts above is very relevant.
No, as long as the other carrier that causes the misconnect is oneworld, then AA should protect you.
I say should because even though there is a policy in place, this is another area where the amount of rebooking help you get can be highly variable depending on the airport, situation, agent mood, agent training, etc.
One example I have: few yrs back I was flying VIE-LHR on BA connecting to LHR-RDU on AA, separate tickets. VIE-LHR is delayed, run to the gate to see the RDU flight pushing back. Went back to the AA LHR transit desk where I was rebooked on a later connection via JFK without any issues at all.
I've read through the updates and I am still a little confused. Here is my planned itinerary: HKG-SFO-ORD where HKG-SFO is through CX and SFO-ORD is through AA. The CX segment is booked as separate tickets than the AA segment due to mixed cabin and fare issues. The self-connection in SFO is just under 2 hours (which is over the 100 minute MCT from what I understand). Is that protected by AA? CX doesn't have a protection policy for separate tickets right? They'll only interline baggage?
Interline baggage & protection are different things, but related.
Hi, I'm contemplating a separate ticketed AA-IB connection in MAD with a 2hr50min connection. As I understand it from this thread, I'd be protected if my incoming AA flight comes in late. But is 2hr50mins considered a reasonable connection even though it's well above the MCT? We'll have luggage.
I typically have a very high risk tolerance for this type of connection, but with bags connecting to a once-a-day flight I'm not sure about this one.
Unless IB has a specific policy like AA they are probably under no obligation to rebook you. Should you miss the flight, in a best case scenario you'd be rebooked on the next day's flight, while most likely they'd tell you to go pound sand (i.e. buy a brand new ticket). AA has the policy to protect on separate tickets, so it would be up to AA to coordinate with IB to get you rebooked. This is a prime example of the scenario I mentioned a few posts above, in that even though a policy is in place, actually finding an employee willing to help and abide by it is a YMMV situation at international outstations like MAD.
If AA is the late-delivering carrier, it would be AA's responsibility -- not IB's -- to protect the passenger.
We are traveling to LHR this week, MCI-ORD on AA, then separate ticket through BA for ORD-LHR. We have about a 4.5 hour layover in Chicago. My question - what’s the best way to re-check our luggage in ORD but still access the AA Flagship Lounge? I understand the T3-T5 bus is only for international outbound flights, so it seems claiming our bags in T3, transferring to T5 for BA check-in, and then taking the post-security bus isn’t an option. I’d prefer not to have my bags held in the baggage office for several hours, either. Thanks for the input!
I totally agree. I would not at all rely on IB to help you. This is a case where I'd strongly consider buying a through-ticket.
Makes no sense. Reprotect you with a bag across separate tickets due to IRROPS - sure! Check your bag across separate tickets with no IRROPS - nope! The former is surely far more expensive over the long run than the potential liability of a misroute in the latter.
Yup. Completely stupid and nothing but a money-grab. Oh well there are enough people here in favor of anything AA does so no incentive for them to change.
Are your tickets in the same PNR? If so you can check the bags all the way through, enjoy the flagship lounge and then take the bus over to T5, airside. But that's only going to work if the tickets are in the same booking.
What are the usual credit card protections for self-connecting IRROPS?
I can’t recall any credit card protecting one in case of IROPS if on separate ticketing / PNRs.