jjmb

So currently in the UK- right now in the lobby of hotel in Chatham. However the last week we were in Scotland visiting my terminally ill father-in -law.

Our trip over was via Delta.com, Air France and KLM. I am travelling with my daughter and her 10 month old baby.

Firstly I checked before we flew if the Baby was entitled to any luggage as she was an in lap infant. We had booked through Air France but as its an air alliance, everything is done via Delta. So I called and said Air France has a policy of allowing up 22lbs for checked luggage for the baby. As Delta does not have this policy, she had to check Air France. Yes, that was correct, she was allowed a checked allowance of 22lbs.

That should have been my first hint that things were going to go wrong. At the check in - no sorry no allowance for Baby checked luggage. It was small enough take us hand luggage and my daughter had only one bag, diaper, feeding and purse as an all one travel bag with her. To check the luggage it would have been $100. So that was me straddle with my carry on and an additional roll on! So boarding passes issues and off we fly from Austin - Detroit. No problems

Get to Detroit and check to see if there are any spare seats for baby and our luck was in Call for family with young babies and we get to the boarding gate. Where are is the boarding pass and paper tickets for baby? This is all that the check in staff gave us at Austin. So we had stand aside whilst she checked with a supervisor if we could actually fly to Amsterdam. As the last passengers were loading, she got the OK and then she had to manually type in all of our details before issuing paper tickets and boarding passes for Juniper and we had to hand over $130 for taxes as we flying to Europe.

At Amsterdam, we had similar issues as Juniper had not been checked on to the flight to Glasgow, unlike us who had been checked in at Austin.

So basically we flew across the USA with an undocumented child, the week of the Boston bombing, still it was ok as they opened all the sealed baby food and tested that.

In compensation for our distress at nearly missing two flights due to their incompetence, we have been offered $50 each for myself and my daughter towards another flight!

tonrob

Thanks for sharing. I'm confused a bit by some of the details though.

Through which airline did you make the booking? (i.e. who did you hand over the money to?)

Which airline's phone number did you call to ask about the luggage allowance?

It sounds like the routing and carriers you used were:

Delta from Austin to Detroit
KLM(?) Detroit to Amsterdam
KLM(?) Amsterdam to Glasgow

Is this right?

Reading your post again I think you booked with Air France, but you mentioned Delta's website (delta.com) so that's what's thrown me maybe (did you need to visit Delta's website for anything?).

I ask for clarification as it's an area where others may find pitfalls when booking with airline A but flying with partner airlines B and C, when it comes to working out whose rules are supposed to apply.

For luggage allowance I believe it's always the carrier's rules that apply - so it would never have been Air France's allowance (which doesn't help if you're told otherwise by airline staff), but that still leaves it open to question whether Delta or KLM's rules should have applied to the above itinerary (I have no idea whether they differ or not by the way).

Sounds like it was stressful and a pain in the bum, so sorry to hear about it.

civilservant

I agree with tonrob, it makes no differance who you booked with, if the aircraft is a Delta aircraft then their policies will apply.

Airline alliances are truely a pain in the rear, which is why I only ever fly with Delta and will go out of my way (where possible) to avoid their Skyteam partners.

Yorkieabroad

Sorry to hear that - its a pain when travel plans go wrong, and even worse when you're travelling with infants. Just one question - did you actually have a ticket for the infant? The post reads as though you were treating them as an extra carry on Its a few years back now, but I thought even when we were taking the kids as lap travelers, I thought we still had a ticket and boarding pass for them? May be wrong though...

We normally "fly" KLM Houston - Amdam, but you can't actually book it with them directly - on KLM.com, as soon as you have a US originating flight it throws you over to delta.com to book. We've had problems with that in the past (a few years back, pre Delta, we were delayed 24 hours as booked KLM for a Silverjet operated flight and they wouldn't let us fly - long story!), but touchwood, recently, its all worked OK.

Friends had a similar but different problem with KLM/Delta last month, where their Delta.com processed tickets showed check in 2 bags free, but at the airport, the KLM staff charged them $100 for the second bag. They argued, but got nowhere. They were doubly pissed off because the second case was just 'stuff' that friends/family had asked them to bring back

GeoffM

The simple answer is: it's not as simple as that. There are some details on this page which might help the OP if they apply.

Gingerert

Eugh, that sounds horrendous. Sorry, jjmb.

We are flying back to the UK in August for two weeks to see family, and we're taking our four year old and one year old. I'm kinda dreading the flights, to be honest, but we splurged on Virgin tickets because they are the ONLY airline who has never pissed me off! (Except for Singapore Air, who are also exceptional but don't fly the route we need. ). Hopefully it will be "plane" sailing...

lansbury

The Department of Transportation (DOT) in its latest rule making moved to clarify the rules by mandating that the same baggage allowances and fees apply to a passenger throughout an itinerary that originates or ends in the U.S. The new rule making comes into effect on January 23, 2012.

In the case of a code share itinerary originating or ending in the U.S., the marketing carrier’s baggage allowances and fees must apply throughout the itinerary.

tonrob

In this context does marketing carrier = carrier that took the money from OP?

I wonder how effectively this is implemented at the airport, e.g. how well check-in staff or gate agents are able to juggle different sets of rules for different passengers boarding the same flight?

lansbury

Yes the airline you buy the ticket from. Last year my son had a KLM ticket on a Delta flight PDX-AMS-LBA. He wanted to take his snowboard home. Delta charge snowboards as an extra piece of luggage ($200). KLM charge $55 for snowboards. Delta at PDX charged $55.

GeoffM

Yes, this was mentioned in the link I posted. In these days of computers, it ought to be easy - but probably only easy to say rather than do. Back in the days of "proper" paper tickets it quite clearly stated your simple baggage allowance (ie not snowboards or other paraphernalia).

jjmb

To clarify. I booked via the number on Air France website which is actually Delta.com customer service as you cannot booked an infant in lap online. Have never had any issues with Air France or KLM before which is why I wanted to go with them. You have to book via the telephone and the CS rep I spoke with said the paper ticket would not be issued until at least 2 wks before the trip and additional charges due to European rules,would be applied at check in at Austin. In the confusion at Austin, juggling baby and luggage, this detail was forgotten by myself but its the duty of the check in agent to know this information as it was clear we were travelling with a baby in arms.

To be honest the additional checked luggage was a hassle rather than a big deal, as it was the same size as a normal carry on luggage. Fortunately we had not bought our full carry on luggage allowance because we were travelling with Juniper. In the event, the email we received back from Delta.com, admitted we could have checked in the luggage.

My biggest concern was the fact a paper ticket was not issued,so no boarding pass and so we travelled across main land USA with unknown entity (to them) and therefore a huge security issue. This was the week the bombs when off in Boston so security was tight that weekend. Also it was a huge blunder on the part of the check in staff,(the boarding agent at Detroit was not happy at all). Actually, I think, although other people will have to confirm this, no paper ticket for an infant in lap is required if you travel across mainland USA, as no money had been exchanged.
Anyway, hopefully, our trip to Paris/Lorient next Monday and then back to the USA on 19th May, will be event free.