Checked bags on a multi-city ticket questions

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user 6862

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We want to check a large bag from LAX to WAS but have created an extra couple of stops with a multi-city ticket route. With the following route will we have to recover our bag at the individual transfers or will the bag go through to our final destination?

LAX to Bloomington-Normal (BNL) 422 Texas Eagle   -   transfer to a Thruway bus from BNL to Indianapolis (IND)   -   transfer to the 50 Cardinal from IND to WAS

We are a couple of days in Washington so if the bag were a day later than our arrival it's no problem, but is there a risk of us missing it?

Many thanks
 
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Yes, you may check your bags through on that ticket...and they may get there before you do. Unlike airlines, bags on Amtrak don't travel with the passenger; they go the shortest and most direct route. They will probably go by way of Southwest Chief to Capitol Limited. Just one thing, if you build in a stopover so that your bags are waiting more than 3 days in WAS, you could get hit with a storage charge. But for the itinerary you describe, no problem.
 
Yes, you may check your bags through on that ticket...and they may get there before you do. Unlike airlines, bags on Amtrak don't travel with the passenger; they go the shortest and most direct route. They will probably go by way of Southwest Chief to Capitol Limited. Just one thing, if you build in a stopover so that your bags are waiting more than 3 days in WAS, you could get hit with a storage charge. But for the itinerary you describe, no problem.
It's possible for luggage to travel on a different aircraft.  I suppose that if someone checks in bags really early, it might happen if there's a direct flight that's leaving earlier than the passenger, and they consider it easier than perhaps sending it to two different airports with a transfer.  But then I'd worry about it ended up unclaimed on a baggage carousel.  These are rife for theft since I haven't seen a check against the baggage claim check in years.  But I have had bags where I didn't collect them, airport employees sent them to the airline's baggage office, and I had to claim it there.

I've definitely seen late check-in where they specifically noted that the bag might be arriving on a later flight if it doesn't make it to the same plane as the passenger.
 
It's true that airline luggage can travel on a different aircraft than the associated passenger, but that's not normally how it works, there has to be some sort of anomaly.  To the best of my knowledge checked luggage will not normally travel before the passenger.  The passenger either has to be aboard the aircraft or have already traveled on another aircraft previously.
 
It's true that airline luggage can travel on a different aircraft than the associated passenger, but that's not normally how it works, there has to be some sort of anomaly.  To the best of my knowledge checked luggage will not normally travel before the passenger.  The passenger either has to be aboard the aircraft or have already traveled on another aircraft previously.
In general I'd think airlines are worries about people possibly trying to blow up aircraft if they knew their bags wouldn't be traveling on the same aircraft.  I've certainly heard of people being forced off of planes, but where their bags were specifically located such that they don't remain - just in case.

But of course the most likely scenario is late check-in.  I suppose the tag is specifically meant to say that it doesn't need to be matched with a passenger on the plane.  Maybe to give it priority.

latecheckin.jpg
 
To the best of my knowledge checked luggage will not normally travel before the passenger.  The passenger either has to be aboard the aircraft or have already traveled on another aircraft previously.
I've had my checked luggage take an earlier flight than me on United several times (they even have an automated email when this happens, to tell you to go to the baggage service office). I think the key is that the passenger has no advance knowledge that the luggage is going to be sent early.
 
I once flew from BWI to San Antonio, and was considered a late check in when i finally got to check my bags.  I got to the airport an hour and a half early, the check in lines and TSA lines were of monumental scale.  They said my bag might not make the flight.  They were wrong.  I was running up to the gate with my shoes untied as I saw my plane backing away.  My bag was on board, though.  When I  finally got to San Antone 4 hours behind schedule, I  didn't have to wait at the baggage carousel, my bag was right there sitting forlornly with all the other unclaimed luggage.
 
In the most extreme case, one time my bag went east and I went west from New York to eventually get reunited in Delhi India. Bag had already arrived in Delhi before I did. There was no seat available in the correct class on the bag’s route. Strange things can happen in IRROPS.
 
It's true that airline luggage can travel on a different aircraft than the associated passenger, but that's not normally how it works, there has to be some sort of anomaly. 
USAir used to do it *routinely* and as a matter of course on flights to Ithaca.  Weight limits.  The more popular flight got the passengers; their checked luggage went on the next later flight, arrived late, and had to be picked up the next day.

I am absolutely certain that other airlines do similar shenanigans.
 
And then there is TSA that fails to process bags in time even after you check in more than an hour before departure. Has happened to me twice, when the bag came on a later flight due to TSA dalliance. The airline was nice enough to deliver the bag to my home an hour away from the airport both times.

In the good old Stapleton era in Denver, weight restrictions for takeoffs from the short runway of Stapleton was a perennial issue which cause offloading of random passenger, baggage or both. If only I could get a dollar for each time I had to overnight in Denver on the way to Salt Lake City.
 
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