The information about the passenger's baggage allowance and the carrier whose provisions have been
selected may have been further stored in the passenger's e-ticket record, and may be exchanged in
the standard ticketing messages to ensure visibility on the passenger’s ticket record at any touch
point. It is important that carriers ensure that there is enough information to determine baggage
entitlements, which may also be achieved by filing fares with a service such as ATPCO.
The baggage allowance of the ticket requires only the most basic information to be present, such as
20K, 30K, or 2PC. When the fare does not permit any free baggage allowance, ‘NO’, ‘NIL’ or ‘XX’ shall
be entered in the baggage allowance. More details on how to store baggage information such as
allowance and chargeable amounts in the e-ticket, can be found in the IATA Resolution 722, Chapter
18 - Baggage.
The information in the e-ticket is further made available to the Departure Control System (DCS) and
allows airport agents to process the interline passenger at check-in when accepting baggage. With
this information, a DCS will determine if additional fees should be collected for checked-in bags in
excess of the entitled allowance.
In the current environment it is recommended that carriers’ part of the interline itinerary exchange
baggage data in electronic ticketing standard messages. These standard messages allow carriers to
include and exchange various baggage related information such as the information on the maximum
free baggage allowance weight via the “Maximum Free baggage Weight” data element (e.g. when the
baggage allowance is based on pieces carriers can include as well the baggage weight followed by
kilos ‘K’ or pounds ‘L’, e.g. 23K or 50L) or dimension via “Maximum Free Baggage Dimensions” data
element (e.g. when the baggage allowance is based on pieces can include as well the maximum linear
dimensions of the baggage followed by centimeters ‘C’ or inches ‘I’).
In case the customer requests to transport other types of baggage services in addition to the default
baggage allowance (such as bulky baggage, fragile baggage, courier baggage or bicycles) a
notification should be sent to the other carriers participating in the interline itinerary.
In general, a Special Service Request (SSR), with a dedicated service code, will be created in the PNR
to capture this service. In interline itineraries the booking source should use the applicable booking
method of each carrier and the service should be requested in separate transaction to each of the
carrier part of the itinerary. Consequently, the carrying airline should reply to the booking agent with
either a confirmation or rejection of the request and it is recommended that an agent should not
assume that a message has been received or actioned without this confirmation.
More details about the procedures carriers should follow from a reservation perspective for excess
baggage, bulky baggage, fragile baggage, cabin baggage, courier baggage and bicycles, can be found
in the the Recommended Practice 1790c, A4A/IATA Reservation Interline Message Procedures
(AIRIMP) Chapter 3.21.3 and Reservations Handbook (RHB) Chapter 15.4
– Exceptional baggage
.