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I was traveling from Vienna (VIE) to Paris (CDG) to Hong Kong in Dec. The ticket was issued by Air France; however, the first leg from VIE-CDG was operating by Austrian Airlines, with codeshare flight number AF5045/OS417, transiting at Paris and onwards to HKG by Air France.

I needed to purchase an extra checked bag, so since my ticket was issued under AF, I checked the website, which says the price is 100EUR. However, when I arrived at the Vienna airport, the Austrian ground staff insisted I need to follow Austrian Airlines baggage policy instead, which results in 250 EUR.

I wonder if their handling is correct? I searched online and realized there was IATA regulations 302 on codeshare baggage handling, and the price should follow the "significant carrier" which should be AF as the second leg is crossing the IATA boundary, so I do not understand why this happened and wonder if I was being overcharged? Can anyone kindly advise?

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    If I understood correctly you didn't purchase in advance (from AF) the extra baggage? Austrian cannot sell you tickets of AF. Possibly you should have gone to AF ticket office (or brought it in advance)
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Feb 13, 2019 at 16:55
  • The AF website explicitly states that the prices given are only valid for flights operated by AF or Hop. You should probably have added the additional bag prior to check-in or using online check-in (it would have been even cheaper at 80 €, if they allowed the option).
    – jcaron
    Feb 13, 2019 at 17:51
  • Thanks both, yes i wasn't able to add the extra baggage quota on AF website in advance - as well as wasnt able to do online checkin there either. Ended up the online check in needed to be done on Austrian website so i couldnt able to purchase any extra luggage in advance..
    – Elaine
    Feb 14, 2019 at 1:55

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Theoretically, any combination is possible, but realistically, most of the time the airline that executes the first leg of the trip defines the luggage rules - that means weight and size allowance as well as cost. That means it won't matter through which airline you book your ticket. One reason is that they have to physically handle the luggage check-in - plus they probably find it as complicated as most other users to understand all the details from the following partner airlines - imagine, if they are in sky-xxx-group with 12 global partner airlines, they would need to fully know all baggage rules and cost from all them.

Worst case would be that the worst (smallest, lightest, and most expensive) combination is valid, as each airline only wants to transport luggage according to their own rules. In reality though, most major groups have agreed to respect the first-leg-airlines rules.

So yes, you're stuck with paying Austria however much they ask.

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