Will we ever see our luggage flying from Dulles to Munich to Venice

[KathyPet]

and using the ship's transfer service from the Venice Airport to the ship?

 

Will we need to claim our luggage in Munich to get through immigration and customs or will we need to claim our luggage in Venice to turn it over to the Celebrity folks to transport to the ship? I don;t want to attach the paper luggage tags when we leave the US as I am afraid they will get torn off in transit. WOuld like to put them on as late in the game as possible.

[pete_coach]

We did.

Munich was the entry point to the European Union and we went through customs there.

You had better check with your airlines though but I think you get your luggage and then transfer it to the other airline.

[ser55]

In September we flew from the UK to Venice via Dusseldorf, we didn't have to collect our luggage in Dusseldorf it went straight through to Venice. We then collected it at Venice Airport & wheeled it to the Celebrity transport. We put on our Celebrity luggage tags at Venice Airport.

Enjoy your cruise!!

[cruisestitch]

Whether or not you will collect your luggage will depend on what airline you are using to get from Munich to Venice.

 

If that airline is the same as your US- Munich, or if that airline has a luggage transfer agreement with the first one, then the luggage will be tagged to your final destination when you check it in, and that's where you will retrieve it.

 

If that airline is not in the baggage agreement, then you will need to get it in Munich and re-check it.

 

This happens commonly when either or both of the airlines is one of the low-budget European carriers, which may have been the case for the poster who flew from the UK via Dusseldorf -- that sounds like it might have been AirBerlin, and also the flight from the UK to Dusseldorf might have been on one of the budget airlines that isn't in the luggage transfer agreement.

[carenero]

You pick the luggage at Venice Airport, even thought you enter by Germany.

In Customs the police know wich lugagge is coming fron ourside Europe (Shengen zone) or not, the luggage tags from eupe have green stripes in the borders, and the ones coming from US are all withe

[SFCAcruiser]

and using the ship's transfer service from the Venice Airport to the ship?

 

Will we need to claim our luggage in Munich to get through immigration and customs or will we need to claim our luggage in Venice to turn it over to the Celebrity folks to transport to the ship? I don;t want to attach the paper luggage tags when we leave the US as I am afraid they will get torn off in transit. WOuld like to put them on as late in the game as possible.

 

As previous posters mentioned, you have not provided us with enough information for us to provide a correct answer. The airlines involved are relevant. I will assume that your flight Dulles-Munich is on either LH or UA, and that your flight from MUC to Venice is on LH. If this is correct, you will not see your luggage until you reach Venice. You will have to pass through immigration (passport control) in Munich but you will not pass through luggage "customs" until you reach Venice.

[BKFlowerMound]

As previous posters mentioned, you have not provided us with enough information for us to provide a correct answer. The airlines involved are relevant. I will assume that your flight Dulles-Munich is on either LH or UA, and that your flight from MUC to Venice is on LH. If this is correct, you will not see your luggage until you reach Venice. You will have to pass through immigration (passport control) in Munich but you will not pass through luggage "customs" until you reach Venice.

 

You will clear immigration in Munich as you pass from the non-Shengen part of the airport to the Shengen part of the airport. Shengen is a treaty that most European countries have adopted in which the countries share passport control duties. You will pass through customs in Venice. In Venice, all we did, however, was collect our bags and walk out the door. There were no formalities at all.

[KathyPet]

United to Munich and then the flight to Venice is coded as a LH flight on some Air carrier AIr Dioclatia or some such name which is part of the Lufthansa system. By the way when I checked back for responses I had to chuckle over the way I phrased my question. I was wondering what I would think if I looked out the plane's window to SEE my luggage flying along side the plane.

[cruisestitch]

OK -- since the second airline is code-shared with Lufthansa, then you will NOT see your luggage until your arrival UNLESS your check-in agent at your home airport makes a big mistake. Make sure that the luggage is checked through to Venice -- then you will not need to claim it and re-check it.

 

You will go through Immigration in Munich, then will proceed to your connecting gate.

 

Coming back to the states, it may be different. If you are making a connection in the US, say you are flying from Munich -- Chicago -- Des Moines or some such (don't know where you live), then you will go through Immigration, then you claim your luggage in Chicago, pass through Customs and hand the luggage over to personnel who will be waiting on the other side of the barriers and who will put it on your connecting flight. If you are not making a connection, then you just proceed to your ground transportation after Customs.

[steamboats]

It´s Air Dolomiti (a sister company of LH). And no, you won´t have to pick up your luggage at Munich airport. It will be checked through. You have to collect it in Venice where you go through customs (but it´s just "going through the green door" when you have nothing to declare, the "red door" is only when you have something to declare). There are usually just customs officers standing next to the exit doing random picks.

 

Passport control (immigration) will be at Munich airport when you proceed on to your connecting gate.

 

steamboats

[Keith1010]

I hope you have lots of time between each flight.

 

Keith

[Elaine0138]

DO NOT put your cruise line tags on until you have claimed your baggage in Venice.

[Redtravel]

Flying and checking luggage is like playing roulette. Sometimes you win,sometimes you lose. Just be sure to pack the essentials in your carry on. I have lost at luggage roulette too many times. Usually you get the luggage within a few days. If you are cruising, put a copy of your cruise itinerary in your outside pocket. It may help to get back a lost bag. On one cruise, we changed planes and our bags did not. They were left at JFK and we were in Barcelona. Millennium concierge did help us get our bags. It took over a week. I was glad that I had enough stuff in my carry on to get by. Also, check with your airline for weight restrictions for carry on bags. We flew Lufthansa and had our carry on bags taken from us because they weighed too much......and they lost our suitcases and carry on bags for 2 days. Panic.....no. I had read the tour books before leaving home. Within 15 minutes, we had bought clothes. Lufthansa paid for them. Traveling is an adventure. I am cruising soon and am about to select the clothes to pack. Be sure that they will be stuff that I would not be too upset if I never saw them again. Yes.....it can happen. I once had my luggage returned minus the good stuff. Leave the designer stuff at home. Make a list of the contents or better yet, take photos. Most of the time, everything goes well. Let us hope that everyone wins playing luggage roulette.

[Sinppu]

I hope you have lots of time between each flight.

 

Keith

 

Lufthansa is great even on a tight schedule. Our bags came with us the whole way Helsinki-Munich-Singapore-Jakarta in February.

Even though our first flight was 40 minutes late and we were escorted in a private van through all the formalities and our transfer time ended up being about 20 minutes :eek:

[Marytutor]

I have flown the Dulles to Munich and if you are flying a UAL flight, it is the controlling one which means that the luggage restrictions are better than if you are on LH flight. Your bags will be weighted at IAD and sent straight through to Venice. I love that flight to Munich. I agree with the comment to make sure you have things in your carryon that would give you things to wear in the event that the luggage or flight were delayed.

 

 

Enjoy your cruise.