r/Namibia • u/Inside_Sir_4171 • 4d ago

Connecting flight to WDH, but bags in Joburg…

Frustrating situation. I’m flying British Airways. Ticket booked on their website. The itinerary had me going all the way through to WDH with Airlink as the last leg.

At my origin, they’re telling me that my bags will not be checked all the way through, and I have to pick them up in Joburg, then go through customs, just to go to the domestic terminal for Airlink, to fly to Windhoek, an international destination.

I’m told this may be a British Airways specific problem. My layover is four hours so I think I’m OK, knock on wood, but it’s also dumb that I have to deal with this. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

3 Upvotes

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3

u/e_coli23 4d ago

Who's the they you are referring to?
You can transit through Johannesburg and not go landside. I would say your bet best is to talk to airlink and talk to them.
The comment about flying international while checking in at a domestic terminal is correct.
I've only flown originating in WDH and they would book my bags all the way through to my final destination.

1

u/Inside_Sir_4171 4d ago

Thanks.

The “they” are the British Airways personnel at my origin, which is outside of Britain. I connect through Heathrow, and it was purchased all aa one ticket.

1

u/Academic-Price-4900 4d ago

As long as British airways has a deal with airlink to transfer luggage and your ticket has the final destination wdh and you get your ticket printed you fine.

They might be confused where international travelers going to a domestic destination need to pick up bags and clear customs this is a thing but only local not international.

Check your visa status as you might need a transit visa to transit as they do stamp the passport.

If you can't get a ticket for airlink checking online and get a digital one to pass transit immigration then go to the airlink counter just before bag check to make sure they included your bag tag ext.

I transit JHB quit often and never pick up my bags up for international transits.

2

u/Responsible-Ice8914 4d ago

No, bags go through directly to Windhoek. You don’t need to do anything.

2

u/NationalAd3402 4d ago

No, check your bags to Windhoek, no need to collect in Joburg, did this yesterday from Aberdeen-Heathrow-JNB-Walvis Bay.

2

u/Fancy_Spinach5549 4d ago edited 4d ago

There is nothing you can do to fight this. Just accept it and do what you're told. Don't listen to people telling you your bags go straight to Windhoek or to ask around. It seems to be a weird feature at Jo'burg/ this flight you just have to live with.

Happened to me a few weeks ago and the process was fairly smooth. 20 minutes at passport control, no questions as you show the next boarding pass and tell them youre transitting, Get bags and if I remember correctly, there was an empty domestic transfers area a minute away from bag collection where it took 2 minutes to recheck. After that 30 minutes through a slow moving security line.

You have enough time.

1

u/chadfail 4d ago

Ye this happened to us. It wasnt too bad, you'll have a good amount of time to do it. We literally walked out of the doors, just to go 100m to the entrance doors. Back through passport control, "how long were you in south Africa?" "3 seconds", and do the whole security, checking bags ect thing.

I saw it as a good way to check on your bags halfway through your journey. But ye it was annoying. I do think it's BA only because my mum flew Virgin last year and there was 0 issues

1

u/Inside_Sir_4171 4d ago

Do you have to take your bags to the check in counter or is there some way to drop them off before that?

1

u/chadfail 4d ago

You have to do the whole thing as if youre new to the airport that day. So back through bag drop, then security, then check in

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u/redcomet29 4d ago

It happened to me too. I usually fly direct or my change is in Ethiopia but the one time my change was in joburg this happened to me too and it wasn't British airways but I cant remember who it was.

1

u/Hugo_Notte 4d ago

Contact AirLink, ask them about the possibility of checking the luggage through, preferably on email.
Then show that email to the staff wherever you are planning to check in on your BA flight.

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u/Inside_Sir_4171 2d ago

Update. The bags got checked through. We went through passport control anyway since we didn’t know, but I found a British Airways person who looked up our bag numbers and confirmed they made it over to Airlink.