US Airways Reservations

I made separate plane reservations (2 segments, 1 trip). How can I make my bags transfer over?

I made a U.S. Airways reservation from the west coast to LAX. Then I made a separate reservation for a few hours later on Hawaiian Airlines from LAX to HNL. It was cheaper to do it this way. When I check in, can I just tell the U.S. Airways people to transfer the bags to Hawaiian when I get to LAX? Or do I need to go claim my bags and recheck them? I'd hate that, because I'd need to go outside security. So, I guess I'm asking if US Airways can just mark the bags as having HNL as their ultimate destination and skip the whole baggage claim/recheck thing in LAX?

Public Comments

1. US Airways will transfer the bags to the Hawaiian flight unless they do not have an agreement with Hawaiian (unlikely). Have the flight info (real ticket or e-ticket) with you when you check-in for your first flight. Give it all to the airline agent and verbally advise them of the Hawaiian flight. They should tag your bag to HNL, but look to verify.
2. In the old days (pre-9/11), the transfer would be straightforward, as long as US Air and Hawaiian had an interline agreement. (Some airlines, such as JetBlue and Southwest, have no interline agreements at all.) Now, however, most airlines will not transfer your bags automatically if the two segments are on two different tickets, which seems to be the case here. The automated kiosks now used for baggage checkin won't know about your second segment, and will therefore print a baggage tag for only the first segment. If you stand in line and avoid the kiosks, you might find a sympathetic and helpful airline staffer who will check your back through, but there's no assurance of this. Finally, because of the interline transfer, you might feel better about seeing your bags in LAX and physically turning them over to Hawaiian, which greatly decreases the chances of your bags getting lost on the way. Have fun in Hawaii!
3. You'll have to transfer your baggage yourself. They have carts all over that you can use. If you're lucky, U.S. Airways will lose your luggage and if they find it they will have it delivered to your hotel in HNL.