Question re online check in with different airlines, help! Any travel agenty types?!

[HarrogateMum]

Hello all. We are going to Thailand to meet up with my husband's sister and family who fly in from Australia at Easter. We fly with Emirates to BAngkok then on with Bangkok Airways to Koh Samui. The travel agent said we can check in all the way through to Koh Samui so we don't have to pick up and re check in our luggage at Bangkok but on our confirmation details there are two totally different online check in references, one for the Emirates flights and one for the hop to Koh Samui.

I realise I could wait and check in at Manchester and presumably check in all the way through but am nervous that this would mean the five of us would not be sat together. So if I have two different online check in references and did it online would they allow us to check our luggage all the way through when we did the bag drop? Any ideas?!

Am doubly nervous because we have quite a tight transfer time at Bangkok on the way back (1 hr 20 minutes) although again the agent has said it is ample time and otherwise we would not have been able to book it.

Very grateful for any words of advice! Thank you.

For a stress free trip, with a tight transfer time I would do the straight through checkin all the way to Ko Samui - just get to Manchester with plenty of time for the checkin rather than doing 2 separate online checkins.
Then its not your problem to deal with the luggage and connection in Bangkok - you just need to get yourself to your departure gate. If there are any issues with your first flight being delayed, your airline will already know you need the connection and will probably have sorted you out and you will be already checked in and everything organised to catch the next flight.

You have a lovely holiday to spend with your family - so say hello to them at the gates, get to your own seats for the hop to Ko Samui and then see them all again when you're waiting for your luggage. (If you are desperate to talk to them on the plane - do some seat swaps once the flight is cruising and the seat belt signs are turned off)

Hopefully your bags can be checked all the way to Koh Samui; the problem you have here is that Emirates and Bangkok Airways are not part of the same airline alliance. The travel agent may well have advised you wrongly bearing in mind you have two separate check in references.

(An additional problem is that if the flight into Bangkok arrives late and you miss your onward connection as a result, you then have to rely on the Bangkok airways ground staff who can help but its going to take time).

I would speak to Emirates customer service in the first instance and see what they say.

Certainly advise the Emirates staff at check in that your final destination is Koh Samui on Bangkok Airways, they should ask you where you are travelling to in any event.

Thanks guys. Think I will wait and check in at the airport to ensure bags go all the way through!

No, because you will need to clear customs and immigration at your first point of arrival into Thailand (Bangkok). Your bags will be checked through all the way to Bangkok from the UK (you won't have to see them in Dubai) but you'll have to collect them at Bangkok and check them back in for the hop to Koh Samui.

oh no really? Aaaghhh that goes against all the stuff everyone else has said! I actually emailed Emirates and they said it would be possible for them to check luggage all the way through to Koh Samui with Bangkok Airways. I blooming hate travel, next year I am going to Norfolk!