Baggage Policy at PVG (International Flights)

More of a transit-related question, but here goes. I've tried to find a certain answer to this question, but to no avail. I think it gets asked a lot, so bear with me.

If one is flying China Eastern on an international flight and has a stopover/connecting flight, does the baggage go all the way to the destination or must it be re-checked during the stopover? I am specifically looking at flying from ICN (Seoul) to CMB (Sri Lanka) with a stopover at PVG (Shanghai-Pudong). There are a couple of different layover options available, and if I have to re-check my baggage, I may opt for a longer one just to be safe.

I might add that I actually made a trip with CE a few months back, and on my return journey (BKK to ICN with a PVG stopover), my lugggage did go all the way without my having to recheck. (I had some domestic legs in China on my outbound trip and did have to recheck my luggage, but I think that's standard for domestic lights.) I've just read different things about CE's policy and haven't found anything in writing that spells it out. I'm looking to book through the CE website, so I imagine everything would be on a single ticket, as I think that does make a difference.

Thanks for any replies!

CE and PVG are a bit of a morrass as far as I am concerned. Sometimes they check through, other times they dont.

If you are limited to 1 stop in China and you are on one ticket; it SHOULD check through. I have had it not though.

While it sounds a bit pedantic, the proper letter code shorthand for China Eastern Airlines is MU. Using "CE" is confusing to most travelers who have the experience to be able to help you on this, so suggest you keep to the standard MU designation.

General PVG policy (in China the airport sets the overall baggage policy, not the individual airlines) is to require checked bag pickup and recheck by passengers even for those doing international transits. Through some partial dispensation owing to PVG being MU's home base, MU is able to automatically through-check bags on certain route/flight combinations only. Both inbound and outbound segments must be on one ticket. However, AFAIK, there is no public list of what those lucky combinations might be. Usually you will not find out until you ask at your originating check-in. However, given that your final destination is CMB, I'd give it 80% odds that you will NOT be able to through-check luggage at ICN. My advice is therefore to make it a generous stopover connection to allow for the claim/recheck process at PVG, and to absorb a reasonable amount of delay on the incoming. If you want the PVG-CMB departing around 14:30, I'd take an 08:30-09:00 out of ICN.

Thank you both for your replies! And jiejie, thanks for educating me and for being so thorough. I was leaning towards a longer layover just for general peace of mind, and while a 5-hour layover might be dull (first flight leaves at 8:30, and the next leg is 2:30), it's certainly preferable to missing my next flight or losing my luggage because of delays. That being said, for Sri Lanka, I would ideally make do with a carry-on to make travel easier once I get there, but it's best to be safe with flight times, anyways.

Thanks again!

If you plan to try to do the connection without checked luggage, be advised that Chinese airport security checkpoints can be very strict about what goes through as carry-on. You'd need to plan your packing accordingly, otherwise your offending stuff will be confiscated. If you have quantities of liquids/gels, anything with alcohol like hand sanitizer, pocketknife, scissors (even kiddie ones), camera tripod....(list goes on), then consider just putting it in a suitcase and checking it. Can't speak for CMB, but ICN and PVG are not likely to lose or misdirect your stuff.

Again, great insight, and I appreciate it. Like I said above, I have flown with MU before, but it was with checked luggage. Thanks for all the advice!

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