United baggage policy for international business class

[dfish]

Does anyone have recent experience for United Airlines international business class baggage policy.  I've called United and gotten several different answers.  On the website with my reservation it says I get one bag at 50 lbs free and a second one for $100.   I think these are the economy class baggage allowances.   One person told me I got two free bags at 70 lbs free and then transferred me to someone else who was to fix my reservation.  That person came back and said only domestic business class gets 2 free bags.  International is allowed only one bag.  If I call again, who knows what the answer might be.

[CruiserBruce]

You should get two 50 lb bags per person, for free, in Business. 

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

You should get two 50 lb bags per person, for free, in Business. 

Hmmm I thought it was two 70 lbs pp. That's what it's always been for my domestic/international business/first class on AA, DL & UA.

[dfish]

11 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Hmmm I thought it was two 70 lbs pp. That's what it's always been for my domestic/international business/first class on AA, DL & UA.

That's what I thought it was but the last guy I talked to at UA said that was for domestic, not international.  He then said he couldn't help me and hung up.

 

[CruiserBruce]

19 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Hmmm I thought it was two 70 lbs pp. That's what it's always been for my domestic/international business/first class on AA, DL & UA.

Quoted straight from the UA website. I think it used to be 70lbs, but had dropped to 50 a few years ago.. If you have status, its different. ( I am a Plat).

 

https://www.united.com/en/us/baggage-calculator/any-flights

[Free2bMeForever]

It’s interesting that when you use the calculator, it comes up with a 50 lb. limit, but in the “Weight Limits by Class of Service” about an inch below, it says the following:

United Business® United First® United Polaris® business class

70 pounds (32 kilograms)

 

No wonder the customer support agents can’t give a consistent answer!!!!

[Trunkabella]

It should be spelled out at the bottom of your confirmation.  I have a business class flight booked on United for October and my confirmation indicates 2 70 lb bags.  Is it possible that this may vary based on the booking class?  Did you book directly with United or is it cruise line air?

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, Trunkabella said:

It should be spelled out at the bottom of your confirmation.  I have a business class flight booked on United for October and my confirmation indicates 2 70 lb bags.  Is it possible that this may vary based on the booking class?  Did you book directly with United or is it cruise line air?

This shouldn't make a difference at all with who the air is booked through.

4 hours ago, Free2bMeForever said:

It’s interesting that when you use the calculator, it comes up with a 50 lb. limit, but in the “Weight Limits by Class of Service” about an inch below, it says the following:

United Business® United First® United Polaris® business class

70 pounds (32 kilograms)

 

No wonder the customer support agents can’t give a consistent answer!!!!

Yes....I agree with the above 70 lbs per bag for business/first.  The 50 lbs is for economy.

[Ashland]

5 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Quoted straight from the UA website. I think it used to be 70lbs, but had dropped to 50 a few years ago.. If you have status, its different. ( I am a Plat).

 

https://www.united.com/en/us/baggage-calculator/any-flights

Sorry but I disagree...recent personal experience as an overpacker 

[dfish]

I guess we'll just have to take our chances at the airport that those people know and understand the policy.

[6rugrats]

1 hour ago, dfish said:

I guess we'll just have to take our chances at the airport that those people know and understand the policy.

I'm going to take a wild guess that you booked your air through your cruise line?

I work at the airport and am well aware of the policy.  I don't understand the crazy answers you received.  You are entitled to two free bags, weighing up to 70 pounds each in business class, unless your routing (which you don't list) has a baggage restriction.  This should be stated on your itinerary on united.com.

Edited July 3, 2022 by 6rugrats

[dfish]

59 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

I'm going to take a wild guess that you booked your air through your cruise line?

I work at the airport and am well aware of the policy.  I don't understand the crazy answers you received.  You are entitled to two free bags, weighing up to 70 pounds each in business class, unless your routing (which you don't list) has a baggage restriction.  This should be stated on your itinerary on united.com.

Thanks!   There is one flight in question.  It is booked as United and operated by Lufthansa.  Could that be the problem?   If so, why didn't anyone at United tell me that?

 

When United changed my itinerary last week it went from AMS-IAD-DTW.   Now it is AMS-FRA-IAD-DTW.   Maybe it is the flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt that is the problem?

Edited July 3, 2022 by dfish

[CruiserBruce]

You are bound by the rules of the airline whose plane you get on. So if you are flying Lufthansa, it doesn't matter if you are booked through United. You need to know Lufthansa's rules.

[6rugrats]

1 hour ago, dfish said:

Thanks!   There is one flight in question.  It is booked as United and operated by Lufthansa.  Could that be the problem?   If so, why didn't anyone at United tell me that?

 

When United changed my itinerary last week it went from AMS-IAD-DTW.   Now it is AMS-FRA-IAD-DTW.   Maybe it is the flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt that is the problem?

Always the missing details.  That is terrible routing. 

If you look at your reservation, it will clearly show who the operating carrier is.  You would check in for this flight with LH.  You would follow the rules of the operating carrier.  Your FRA-IAD-DTW flight is on UA.  You still get two bags up to 70 pounds.

Edited July 3, 2022 by 6rugrats

[SDHusker]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

You are bound by the rules of the airline whose plane you get on. So if you are flying Lufthansa, it doesn't matter if you are booked through United. You need to know Lufthansa's rules.

So true, the first plane you get on, their rules apply.  And in this case, Lufthansa site says business get 2 bags at 32kg (70 lb).

[dfish]

Ok, this is all good to know.  This routing was not done at our request.  We never would have booked this.  Not only is there this luggage mess, we now get into Detroit at midnight, 5 hours later than we originally were supposed to land.  We have a 3.5 hour drive from there.  I think we're going to end up in a hotel that night.  Just one more added expense.

[6rugrats]

That's a long travel day!

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by 6rugrats

[dfish]

1 hour ago, 6rugrats said:

That's a long travel day!

 

Yes, it is.  But, I said if they were going to mess up our flights, let it be on the return.   So far we are ok for outbound. 

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, dfish said:

Yes, it is.  But, I said if they were going to mess up our flights, let it be on the return.   So far we are ok for outbound. 

 

Is it too late to seek air deviation for the routing you dislike?  There may be a fee for such, may it be worth it.  

[dfish]

15 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Is it too late to seek air deviation for the routing you dislike?  There may be a fee for such, may it be worth it.  

We fly out in less than 2 weeks, so yes, it probably is.  I looked up our original flights and they are no where to be found.  I think that is what happened and this is probably the best they can do.   But, it is still a PITA.

 

Meanwhile, they did narrow down the luggage question and they are blaming it on Lufthansa.  They said Lufthansa is the first flight and they govern the baggage rules for the entire itinerary.  I pointed out that according to the Lufthansa website, they allow 2 bags per person at 70 lbs.  Not one bag per person at 50 lbs.  She tried to dispute that and I just told her if they planned to continue operating it would behoove them to have the correct information to give to the people who are shelling out the bucks for their product.  I think she was perplexed by the word behoove and that was the end of that call.

[rkacruiser]

2 minutes ago, dfish said:

I think she was perplexed by the word behoove and that was the end of that call.

 

Another example of our educational system failing to well educate our citizens?  International Business Class passengers have long been able to check two free bags in my experience.  A 70 lb weight limit is of no interest to me.  I try to get the bags close to 50 lbs each.  Even then, it takes much of my strength to move the darn things.  Trying to move a 70 lb bag would be impossible for me.  

[6rugrats]

55 minutes ago, dfish said:

 

 

Meanwhile, they did narrow down the luggage question and they are blaming it on Lufthansa.  They said Lufthansa is the first flight and they govern the baggage rules for the entire itinerary.  I pointed out that according to the Lufthansa website, they allow 2 bags per person at 70 lbs.  Not one bag per person at 50 lbs.  She tried to dispute that and I just told her if they planned to continue operating it would behoove them to have the correct information to give to the people who are shelling out the bucks for their product.  I think she was perplexed by the word behoove and that was the end of that call.

 There is no "blame" and they are right.  You were correctly informed that the rules of the first operating carrier apply to your flight.  It is unreasonable to expect a phone agent to have memorized the baggage allowance for every airline.  Your ticket clearly shows your baggage allowance and this was available to you simply by logging into United.com.  Why were you wasting so much time making these phone calls and arguing?  Is it possible she was just tired of the conversation?  There is no need to be rude or condescending; I am pretty sure English is not the first language of most of these agents.

Edited July 3, 2022 by 6rugrats

[rkacruiser]

51 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

Is it possible she was just tired of the conversation?  There is no need to be rude or condescending;

 

It is rude to hang up on a customer.  You are reading the poster's comments in a different way than I am.  

 

53 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

I am pretty sure English is not the first language of most of these agents.

 

Probably correct, but, if the communication is with a United States based company, I expect an agent who has enough education in English to be able to properly communicate with me.  The failure of some companies to provide such employees on their toll free phone lines lead to the legitimate (in my opinion) disgust in my dealings with those companies.   

[dfish]

1 hour ago, 6rugrats said:

 There is no "blame" and they are right.  You were correctly informed that the rules of the first operating carrier apply to your flight.  It is unreasonable to expect a phone agent to have memorized the baggage allowance for every airline.  Your ticket clearly shows your baggage allowance and this was available to you simply by logging into United.com.  Why were you wasting so much time making these phone calls and arguing?  Is it possible she was just tired of the conversation?  There is no need to be rude or condescending; I am pretty sure English is not the first language of most of these agents.

Yes, the rules of the first flight apply, but they weren't using those rules.  They were making up their own.  That is the problem.  Also, when they changed the itinerary they did not reticket the flights.  I called them today because they sent me an email asking me to call so we could resolve the issues.  Instead, they just read me the pre packaged form instructions and continued to give me incorrect information.  No, I don't expect a phone agent to have memorized the regulations for every airline, but this is a ticket being sold by them and I do expect them to know the rules for the tickets they are selling.  And, I expect that information to be correct.  It wasn't.  Currently what they have in the system for me is incorrect and it means I will be charged $100 for a bag that should be free.  No, I won't back down.

Edited July 3, 2022 by dfish

[6rugrats]

You are making a mountain out of a mole hill and working yourself up over something that isn't a problem.  I absolutely guarantee that with this ticket in business class on LH & UA, you will be allowed two bags up to 70 pounds each.  You will not be charged.  Unless you truly enjoy conflict and chaos, forget about it as there's nothing to back down about.  Come back on your return from your cruise and post what happened.

Edited July 3, 2022 by 6rugrats