luggage customs confusion- Help!

Alitalia is right, but it sounds like American Airlines is telling your daughter that they will not transfer her bags at Rome FCO. Tell your daughter to kick the question up the line to a higher level. American Airlines is in a different airline group than Alitalia, which is in bed with Delta, Air France, and KLM. These days there is no telling what the airlines do for you in the customer service end, but it is less than the good old days.

Maybe her flights were booked as 2 separate flights (one to Rome on American; the next one with you to Palermo on Aitailia) while yours is considered one flight with a layover in Rome.

think about it. If you show up in Palermo on a domestic flight, how would they know that you were an international visitor and needed to be checked?

American should be able to check your daughter's bags all the way through. However, as Shawn said, your daughter's flights might have been booked separately. If this is the case, American has no insight into your daughter's Palermo flight thus they can't transfer the bags. Ask your daughter to look at her reservations and verify if the Palerrmo flight has the same record locator.

When she checks in for her flight at Charlotte, have her look at the luggage tags; if the tags end with FCO, they are checked only to Rome. If the tags end with the code PMO, they are checked all the way.

If they ARE NOT checked all the way, she will have to retrieve her bags, process customs (no big deal) as well as border control, and check in for her next flight. This could cause a bit of a delay so I hope you have a fair layover.

When she checks in in Charlotte she can show the agent her ticket for the Palermo flight and ask if her bags can be checked all the way to Palermo - some will do that.

think about it. If you show up in Palermo on a domestic flight, how would they know that you were an international visitor and needed to be checked?

Surprisingly, every European airport has a "Nothing to declare" door, and a "Declare goods" door. So it is up to you.
Works on the honor system, with occasional spot checks. Anyway, that is how it works at Venice airport. Many flights are "domestic" (from EU cities where there are no customs) and have International passengers that transfer to these flights from outside the EU. And there are also International direct flights arriving from outside the EU. and there are flights arriving that are truly domestic, originating in Italy. There is just a single luggage carousel room where everybody picks up their bags, and 2 exit doors, one with nothing to declare and one to declare goods.

It may simply be that American Airlines will not "interline" the bags with Alitalia, whether it is on one ticket or not. I seem to recall reading that some airlines are discontinuing this service.

Sam, she asked about " . . . customs and immigration. . ." Its the immigration part of it to which I referred. If she doesn't do that in Rome, they wouldn't catch that in Palermo, would they?

She ( the mom) goes through immigration in Rome but does not have to retrieve and re-check her bags.

Unless, American won't interline her bags to Alitalia on to Palermo.

American told her she has to retrieve her bags in Rome and go through customs/immigration with her bags in Rome.

I thought that is what the discussion was all about, and apparently, it is. Yes immigration in Rome, customs in Palermo IF AA will kindly check the bags to Palermo, saving her a lot of time and trouble.

Luggage checked within the EU has two green stripes on the tab, meaning "no custom check". If your luggage comes with an ordinary white tag the custom inspector knows at a glance it is coming outside the EU.

I knew there had to be a system.

What? No one is suggesting carry-on only so the bags are always with the owner?

Sam, in my post at 11:15 where I said she would only go through immigration in Rome, Inwas talking about the mom, not her daughter.

Here is what I see: mom flies Boston to Rome to Palermo, all on Alitalia.

Daughter flies Charlotte to Rome on American, then on to Palermo on Alitalia.

They are meeting in Rome for the flight to Palermo. Both will go through immigration/passport control in Rome when they enter the Schengen zone.

After going through immigration, daughter needs to claim her bag and re-check it onto the Alitalia flight IF American will not check it through---which they said they won't do.

Assuming that is the case, they will need to "go through customs" after baggage claim by walking through the door marked "nothing to declare". Then to the Alitalia counter to check the bag.

And then back through security to the gate for their flight.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Be sure they stamp the passports when going through immigration in Rome; they didn't stamp ours and we had hassles leaving Schengen since we couldn't prove with our passports that we had not exceeded the Schengen visa free period for Americans. Luckily I had other documentation; the guy pulled with us missed the plane as he didn't. It added an hour to our boarding process; if we had not been there early we would have missed our plane.

Is your daughter flying on Alitalia to Palermo? If so, then she is on two tickets with two separate airline groups. American Air (and its partners like British Air, Iberia, etc) do not "code-share" with Alitalia. She will need to re-check her bag, as the American Air flight cannot communicate with the Alitalia one to ticket and transfer the bag. I've heard it can be done sometimes but you can't count on it with unrelated airlines.

YOU are flying as one ticket, either on Alitalia all the way or on Delta from Boston then Alitalia to Palermo. Therefore the bag can be booked through - it is either all in Alitalia's system or Deltas, which is a code-share partner so can access the system to ticket the bag and send it through to Palermo.

Sasha is correct.

We have flown the Philadelpia, Rome, Catania or Palermo route for many years. AA will not/cannot check the daughter's bag through to Palermo since the domestic portion of her trip is on Alitalia and they are not a codeshare with AA. AA does not operate domestic flights in Italy.

allisonhb: A note about retrieving your luggage in Palermo. Since your bag will be checked through to Palermo your bag may very well go through a separate screening carousel up arrival. Which means your bag will likely be in a separate area of baggage claim. Do not be alarmed if it is not on the regular luggage carousel.

Thank you all!