Question on luggage when flying to the far west...

[Androcles]

...or at least were they used to film westerns.

I need to fly from MEL to Durango, Mexico. Likeliest route at the moment appears to be MEL-LAX-MEX-DGO. The cheapest options I find require flying those 3 legs with (at least) 2 airlines.

I'd like to be able to drop my luggage here and pick it up in Mexico city, go through customs and then the domestic flight to DGO. What's the best way to achieve this considering that the cheapest connections involve airlines that are not members of the same alliance?

Options I can think of:

1) Pay more and make sure the airlines are members of the same alliance (or at least do codeshare?)
2) Book via expedia or similar the whole route under the same reservation, unsure if this will achieve the expected outcome
3) Book via a flesh and bones travel agent also unsure about the outcome (and, in this case, any recommendations?)

If none of the above work out and I end up in LAX needing to pick up my luggage and the immediately drop it in for the flight to MEX, do I need to go through customs? (i.e: no 'in transit'?)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mattg]

I believe that you could fly UA from MEL to MEX via LAX, or QF/AA via LAX, and have your bag checked all the way to MEX. Then, you would need to re-checkin for an Aeromar or Aeromexico flight to Durango. As the only airlines that fly to DGO are not in oneworld/Star Alliance, this is pretty unavoidable.

Even though you would be in international transit at LAX, you would also need to clear immigration/customs there (which means collecting your baggage), but you would then be able to re-drop your bag after clearing customs. It would have been tagged to MEX if you flew on the same airline/alliance from MEL to MEX.

A couple of other options:
-There is a one-stop option via LAX, but you would need to re-check in at LAX. QF/UA MEL-LAX, followed by Volaris LAX-DGO.
-As Delta and Aeromexico are SkyTeam partners, I believe that you should be able to get your bag tagged through to DGO from Australia if you fly Delta into the USA. Delta fly to LAX daily from Sydney. Then you'd just need to get to SYD to begin the trip. I believe that you may even be able to get your bag checked from MEL if you fly VA MEL-SYD as VA/DL are partners, but I'm not 100% sure about that. (Incidentally, DL from SYD also appears to be the cheapest option for the dates I searched.)

 

[Androcles]

Matt, I cannot thank you enough for the time you took to answer this and the recommendations themselves.

I followed your suggestions regarding DL and booked Delta all the way to MEX, then separately MEX-DGO on AeroMexico. It was a few bucks more but will hopefully make the whole (long) flight easier to deal with.

Thanks heaps once more!

 

[Quickstatus]

Are all the flights on your 2 tickets DL flight numbers?

 

[opusman]

If you transit the US you will have to collect your bag there and clear customs before re-checking for your flight to Mexico.

 

[Androcles]

Are all the flights on your 2 tickets DL flight numbers?

Hi! Yes, from MEL to MEX. MEX to DGO is Aeromexico.

 

[Androcles]

If you transit the US you will have to collect your bag there and clear customs before re-checking for your flight to Mexico.

Right. Not a massive win then but at least I'm hoping to ask them to ticket the luggage all the way through.