Baggage checked through

I've searched the interwebs, and am pretty sure I know the answer, but if someone could confirm, I'd appreciate it.

Flying MAN - LHR on BA then on to SFO on VS019.

Question is, can I wave goodbye to my checked bags in Manchester and not see them again until we land in San Francisco or will I need to retrieve at Heathrow and re-check them in with VS?

Hoping for the former, but suspecting the latter.

Cheers.

If this is all one ticket then it will be checked through.

What I would do at the gate (or at the VS desk in the flight connections centre when you get to T3) is so the staff your bag tag receipt so they can check that the bags have been loaded.

Yes, the bags will be checked through to SFO at MAN if the flights are all one one booking reference. It is possible to through-check on separate booking references, but it depends on the check-in agent. Some are more helpful then others!

I've managed to get bags through-checked [thus avoiding clearing UK Customs] on the return trip too. Did DEN-ORD-LHR-MAN on AA / BA and in Denver they checked the bags through to Manchester. In Manchester, the bags appeared on the reclaim belt for the domestic flight, straight out of the baggage hall, no customs. Unsure if they should have through-checked the bags here, but we were not complaining! (We did not have anything we should not have had in them).

[honey lamb]

I've managed to get bags through-checked [thus avoiding clearing UK Customs] on the return trip too. Did DEN-ORD-LHR-MAN on AA / BA and in Denver they checked the bags through to Manchester. In Manchester, the bags appeared on the reclaim belt for the domestic flight, straight out of the baggage hall, no customs. Unsure if they should have through-checked the bags here, but we were not complaining! (We did not have anything we should not have had in them).

That happens all the time to me when I transit to Cork via LHR. Your bags are customs cleared in LHR although you are not actually present at the time.

I had believed that to be the case and it was confirmed to me on one occasion when arriving in Cork via LHR from somewhere or other. Having collected my bags, I was swithering about which channel to take, mainly because there was a customs officer present and I was aware my baggage tags would be minus the EU green stripe. He asked me where I had come from and on hearing it was from Wherever via LHR, he told me I was OK, that I had been customs cleared already.