Does Air Canada transfer bags to partner airline on same round trip ticket?

Question

I have an Air Canada flight from Texas to Toronto and then off to Frankfurt.

At Frankfurt, I will have a 4 hour layover. From there I will depart to Cairo, and I will be on Air Canada, but operated by Lufthansa or LH Cityline (not sure which, this is what Expedia says).

The same question applies on the return:

Initial flight is from Cairo to Istanbul, I will be flying with Air Canada, but operated by Turkish Airlines. I have a 4 hour 40 min layover in Istanbul, and then back to Canada on Air Canada (Not a partner airline).

Does anyone know if they will transfer the baggage for each leg of the flight, or will I need to get the bags, go through customs and then recheck through security? Or, do I need to contact Air Canada for this information?

I booked the entire round trip on a single booking. So no multi-leg trips. This is just a round trip through Expedia.

Any advice/information will be helpful.

I did see this question/answer, but this doesn't seem to really apply: International connecting flight in Frankfurt, operated by different airline

Answer 1

In general when you book your flights all as one booking, your bags will be checked through all the way. There are a few exceptions:

• in some places you need to interact with your bags as part of clearing customs into an area before catching a connecting flight. For example, if after coming into Toronto on the way home you had a connection to Calgary, you would need to take your bags through Canadian customs before making that connection.
• occasionally you will be sold a combination of tickets where the airlines don't interline bags properly.

You can assume you won't see your bag until you reach your final destination, but double check this with the checkin counter when you hand it over. "That's checked right through to Cairo, right? I won't need to claim it in Frankfurt?"

In my experience airlines tell you whenever there is an exception to this rule. They tell you at checkin and they tell you again on the plane. There will also be signs at the airport if you need to do something unusual.

Answer 2

Unlike the US, Germany does not require passengers in transit to pick up their bags and walk them through customs as a matter of policy. So it's down to airline policy and the details of your booking.

Air Canada, Lufthansa, and Turkish Airline are all large modern carriers and part of the same alliance. The latter two are also listed as codeshare and interline partners on Air Canada's website so I would not expect any problem.

If you had booked tickets separately and the airlines involved had a looser type of partnership, it would generally be possible to have your luggage checked through to your final destination but not guaranteed. In your case, it's almost certainly the case.