When to claim baggage for trip to Europe with connections

As long as your bags are tagged for Palermo, then you will get them in Palermo.

You have to see where the airline ticket agent tags the bag. It's all done by computers. If your baggage "tag" shows FCO you get it in Rome. If It says PMO then they are going to Palermo.

More than likely when you checked your bag in for your previous flight they put in the wrong airport.

Yeah, the standard is your bag is checked through to the final destination if all on one itinerary. The US is the only country I know that requires you to retrieve your bag, physically walk it through customs at the port of entry and, re-check for your connecting flight.

Of course, sometimes things go awry, like your previous flight.

Like Frank says, when you hand your bags over, the tag will tell you if it is going through to Palermo. If this is all on one ticket from your home airport, you might want see if your US carrier checks all the way through.

When you're checking your bag always look at the tag and get confirmation from the agent. Mistakes do happen.

I guess I don’t understand, are these 3 flights all on the same ticket? And if so, why not just check them thru on your first flight?

Yay, Margie, just what I was going to say!

We had this problem at CDG and were initially told by staff that the
bags would go through to Portugal. Later we learned that we should
have picked them up in Paris and then rechecked them (Same airline).

IMO, your airline was simply wrong. If you're flying on one ticket, your bag should be checked through to your destination, period, assuming you've paid for checked bags.

We will be flying into O'Hare to connect with a flight on ITA to Rome,
then to Palermo also on ITA. We plan to bring carry on bags. The size
of our carry on's meet US airline standards but probably not European
carriers such as ITA. So we will fly to O'Hare from our home city and
be able to use the overhead bins. When we get to O'Hare we will go to
the international terminal to catch the flight to Rome and check our
bags.

A la' Margie, I really don't understand why you would do carry-on initially if you're planning to check bags from O'Hare? Unless this is two separate tickets, you can check in your bag in your home city of departure all the way through to Palermo.

(Maybe you missed mentioning it's a separate ticket to O'Hare? In which case, I'd allow plenty of time to check in a bag and make your departure.... how many hours layover?

All on one ticket but 2 airlines When this happened to us before again same ticket same airline Air France We were told after the fact that we should have picked up our bags when we got to Europe and then recheck them for our next flight All on Air France

This is a discussion to have when you check your bags. Most of the time one ticket does not require collecting bags. I would just be very clear with your questions on check in.

All on one ticket but 2 airlines When this happened to us before again
same ticket same airline Air France We were told after the fact that
we should have picked up our bags when we got to Europe and then
recheck them for our next flight All on Air France

Often when I check in bags I get asked "is X your final destination". It is indeed important that you pay attention that they check your bags through. Picking them up and rechecking them is not how it is supposed to work. If you after the fact found that you should have picked up and rechecked when you got to Europe then someone messed up.

When travelling to Europe you usually go through immigration at your first point of entry and pick up your luggage at your final destination, where you walk through customs.

Excpetions are when you connect in a non Schengen area airport (UK or Ireland), where you do not have to go through immigration. And if you fly to an airport without customs you will indeed have to clear customs somewhere during transfer. That happens for example if you connect in Oslo to a domestic flight to a small airport.

WengenK so it appears that the way to our Sicily destination should be ok - just make sure bags go all the way through before checking them, even though we will be switching airlines. On way home we fly Rome to Heathrow for our connection back to the states. Again two airlines, BA and AA. So we also DO NOT pick up our bags at Heathrow?

So we also DO NOT pick up our bags at Heathrow?

You shouldn't have to. Again, look at the baggage tag. (BA and AA are in the same alliance and they interline bags. Make sure you are aware of which terminals you arrive and depart. AA is in Terminal 3. BA operates from Terminals 3 and 5 depend on the destination.)

One thing to realize. Arriving in the US is different. You will go through immigration and customs at your first port of entry. So, if you enter the US at ORD, you will have to collect your bags there to go through customs. Once clear of customs, there is usually an area where you can recheck your bags and you don't have to go all the way to check in. You will also have to go through TSA security.

That means on the return, the bag can only be checked through to ORD.

Frank, thank you - this was very helpful. I do not think we will need to check our bags back in from ORD to our home airport as they are only carryons which will meet US airline standards. I will definitely check on all of this whenever I check my bags as to final destination. I don't know why we were given bad info at CGD last time.