Cathay Pacific Follows New Industry Practice in Baggage Provisions for Multi-Carrier Journeys

Cathay Pacific Airways announced today that it will follow a new resolution introduced by International Air Transport Association (IATA) for all member airlines in deciding baggage allowance and excess baggage charges for journeys involving multiple carriers.

The IATA new "Baggage Provisions Selection Criteria" (Resolution 302) will apply to all tickets issued after 1 April 2011. Baggage travel allowances and charges for journeys involving more than one carrier will follow the allowances and charges of the "Most Significant Carrier" (MSC) of the journey.

The current practice of following the industry agreed set of allowances and charges for journeys involving multiple carriers will cease to apply after the new resolution comes into effect.

In addition, for journeys originating from or with the furthest point being inside the United States, another definition of MSC is used.

The definition of "Most Significant Carrier" (MSC), in accordance with the IATA resolution, can be found at the Cathay Pacific website www.cathaypacific.com. To find out the MSC of your journey, please contact your travel agent or the Cathay Pacific Reservations Offices.

If the entire journey is solely on Cathay Pacific and/or our sister airline Dragonair, the allowances and charges will not be affected by the Resolution. A Cathay Pacific spokesperson emphasised there will be no changes to Cathay Pacific's checked baggage allowances, cabin baggage allowances and extra baggage charges.

However for journeys involving multiple airlines issued after 1 April 2011, the baggage policy of MSC will apply. Passengers on such journeys may see an increase or decrease in their free baggage allowance or excess baggage charges, depending on which airline is considered the MSC during the particular trip.

Examples of how passengers will be affected are as follows: