I wonder if anyone has first hand experience of this?

I am flying (economy) with Air Canada from Manchester to Ottawa in April, via Heathrow. The flight to Heathrow is with bmi.

Air Canada has an economy baggage allowance of 1 x 23kg. I am also keen on making use of Air Canada's extra bag for $50 policy.

bmi has an economy allowance of 20kg.

The Air Canada web-site states that the baggage rules of the first airline I fly with (bmi) apply, so in that case, I can only take 20kg and not pay $50 for an extra bag. Fine, however when I check the bmi web-site, it gives the 20kg allowance but says rules are different for codeshare flights, but it doesn't elaborate as to how they are different.

Does anyone know bmi's policy baggage wise for people connecting with Air Canada?

Many thanks!

Wouldn't it be easier to call BMI?

When i've finished work, yes, that is exactly what I intend to do. In the meantime, as I can't call bmi at the moment but have access to the internet, I thought i'd see if anyone on BE has first hand experience.

And also, if calling bmi is anything like calling Air Canada, i'll probably get a more accurate response on here

The usual principle is that you are governed by the rules of the airline operating the flight rather than who ticketed it. Thus on the BD flight you will be bound to their luggage allowances (regardless of whether you have an AC ticket and/or AC flight number). On the AC flight you will follow AC rules. I suspect you will be out of luck with the additional bag unless this is something BD allow and offer.
The comment on their website likely applies to flights they codeshare with, meaning that if the operating airline has a different policy that rule will prevail.
Again though do check with BD.

The restrictions on the first carrier you board of 'codeshare' flight are the are the ones the subsequent partner airlines use. THis way you won't get caught over weight if the 1st carrier has a higher limit. However if they have a lower limit, you lose out.

Thanks all, will call BD later or over the weekend, and let you know what they say.

I've just spoken to BMI regarding this, took me four attempts to try to explain to the "Supervisor" what I wanted to do.

I'm flying BMI from Glasgow to Heathrow and Air Canada from Heathrow to Calgary. Booked through Air Canada with AC codes as codeshare flights.

For the first bag I was told that BMI will honour the 23Kg allowance given by Air Canada, even though their allowance is onkly 20Kg.

I asked if they would also honour the weight if I "bought" the allowance for a second bag with Air Canada. This is the part that she didn't seem to understand.

Eventually she said that I would be charged £10 per Kg for anything over 23Kg. I pointed out to her that the BMI website states £8 per Kg for UK flights, this seemed to confuse her somewhat but eventually she agreed.

So if I am able to pay $50 to Air Canada for a second bag of 23 Kg from Heathrow to Calgary, BMI will charge me £184 for the same bag from Glasgow to Heathrow.

When I queried this she checked with the airport who said that they would charge on a piece basis for £140.

I think that I'll settle for the one bag of 23Kg, send the rest with the removals and make do or buy anything that I can't do without.

Kev