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Bits: AirPortr, new Global Entry dates in London, Finnair increases Asia frequencies

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News in brief:

AirPortr to launch revolutionary ‘home to destination’ luggage handling service

AirPortr, Europe’s first same day and on demand luggage collection and delivery service, is about to launch a unique ‘door to destination’ baggage check-in service in conjunction with British Airways.

We have covered AirPortr before.  It originally launched in May 2014 in London City Airport, expanded to Gatwick in July 2015 and to Heathrow in December 2015.  The original service allowed you to leave your luggage with AirPortr at the airport and have it delivered to your home or office, or to have it collected from your home and left for collection at departures.

From 26th October AirPortr is offering a new service exclusively with British Airways.  Your luggage will be picked up at your home, tagged and checked in for you. This way you can travel without luggage all the way until your final destination. 

This is an innovative service, and seems to be a genuine improvement to the British Airways service offering.  If BA can integrate the marketing into their pre-departure emails it could be very successful.

When you arrive at Heathrow, City or Gatwick you can head straight to security as you have nothing to check in.  This service can be used for pick ups from your front door, hotel lobby or office.

AirPortr check-in can be booked on this page of the AirPortr website. Prices start from £30 for the first bag and £10 for each additional bag within Central London.

More appointments for Global Entry released

CBP seems to have added more appointment dates for the Global Entry interviews at the US Embassy in London.

We ran our article on Global Entry interviews in London last week but we didn’t know at the time that there was very little availability left.

It now looks like some Thursdays and Fridays have been added to the calendar, giving more people the chance to take advantage of going for a Global Entry interview in London rather than having to travel to the US.

global-entry-us-embassy

Finnair increases frequencies to Asia

Finnair has announced an increase in their Hong Kong and Tokyo flights from summer 2017.

As part of their joint business operation with British Airways, Iberia and Japan Airlines, Finnair will offer 4 additional flights per week from Helsinki to Tokyo.

The service that will run between 5th June and 27th October using the new A350.  It wiill increase the number of weekly flights from Helsinki to Tokyo from 14 to 18.

Other non-stop destinations during summer 2017 from Helsinki include Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. This makes a total of 35 weekly flights to Japan!

Between 6th June and 28th October there will also be three additional flights per week from Helsinki to Hong Kong.  This takes the route to 10 flights per week and adds an afternoon option from Helsinki.  All Hong Kong flights are operated with the A350.

Redemption seats on these flights can be booked with Avios via ba.com.  Cash tickets will earn Avios and British Airways tier points as Finnair is a oneworld alliance member.

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Category

British Airways and Avios, Finnair and Finnair Plus

Comments (52)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • David says:
    12 Oct12 October 05:37

    They should reshoot that airportr promotional image.

    The concept for the image is great, but the execution is not working.
    Not clear enough what is being depicted to be instantly understandable.
    Problem is the fake checkin desk. If they can’t get a better mobile prop one, then rather than create a fake checkin desk inside an office, take the props to make a fake office to an existing physical checkin desk (airport or training centre) and shoot it there.

    • Boris says:
      12 Oct12 October 06:20

      Nah. Its fine.

      That “wardrobe” has a Narnia checkin door !

    • bryan says:
      12 Oct12 October 11:45

      The office whilst probably realistic looks a bit dated as well. Why not have a sleek, modern office

  • Adey says:
    12 Oct12 October 06:20

    As of 06:18 this morning (12th October) there is no availability in London. I can confirm there were plenty of appointment slots available for the 13th October yesterday.

    Adey

  • Anon says:
    12 Oct12 October 06:27

    After the no onboard service for CW & First pax on regional connecting flight the Airportr service should be deeply discounted for CW & F pax

    • Nick says:
      12 Oct12 October 09:00

      You’re kidding, right?! A service available only in London and the SE should be discounted because BA has messed around with service for people in the north and Scotland?!

    • Lady London says:
      12 Oct12 October 09:26

      It would be a good idea if BA could offer the AirPortr service free to those travelling First Class long-haul. (Not CE/ CW). If I was someone who would travel First Class, I am sure I’d find not having to handle my own luggage so helpful, that I’d probably add a couple of bags even if I had to pay for them. So revenue to BA from this segment of passengers offsetting some of the cost.

      • Gavin says:
        12 Oct12 October 11:22

        Would definitely improve BA’s woeful ground offering. Agree a distinguishing point for F

  • pauldb says:
    12 Oct12 October 06:45

    OT: If anyone was interested in my comment about shifting/duplicating an Amex stmt credit offer from one card to another, I can now say it worked. I shifted the Starbucks offer from my Plat to BAPP and my two £3 purchases earned the £1 credits.

    • Danksy says:
      12 Oct12 October 07:02

      I didn’t see your first comment on it – Can you share how you did it?

      • pauldb says:
        12 Oct12 October 07:49

        If you hover over the “Save to card” buttons you’ll see the offers on each card share part of the link address “sorted_index=5”, the number being unique to each card. If you have an offer on card 4 say, but want it on card 5, copy the link from card 4, paste it in your URL bar and change the 4 to a 5 before hitting go.
        The webpage will probably error, but if you navigate back to card 5 you should see the offer appears to be saved under “My Offers”.

        • Genghis says:
          12 Oct12 October 08:28

          Very interesting. And how do you know the card numbers? Simply the order in which cards are listed?

        • Alan says:
          12 Oct12 October 08:41

          Very useful to know this works. Always seemed a bit bonkers that Amex would only make certain offers available on certain cards, especially when we know how ropey their IT can be at times!

          • Bob says:
            12 Oct12 October 12:45

            It’s totally reasonable for retailers to want to target offers at platinum cardholders (for example) and not all cardholders – not bonkers at all.

          • Alan says:
            12 Oct12 October 15:25

            Oh if there was any logic to it I would agree, however they seem to randomly allocate them to different cards or different customers with similar spending patterns. Having seen how things have been for a few years with Amex I don’t credit them with as much forethought in how they allocate things. I also think that given the vast fee paid they should make all offers open to Platinum cardholders.

          • bryan says:
            13 Oct13 October 11:12

            Also reasonable for them to target card holders who had never used their card in the retailers store before.

        • John says:
          12 Oct12 October 09:06

          Right but does it work when you spend or is it just poor website programming?

          • Lady London says:
            12 Oct12 October 09:27

            Yes it’s a result of the way the website is programmed and I do wish you hadn’t published this method.

          • bryan says:
            12 Oct12 October 14:29

            It definitely works to shift the offer on the website and original poster claims that it worked when he did the spend.

  • Oli says:
    12 Oct12 October 07:07

    O/T- I had to buy AF flights on 2 separate tickets: one being London-Paris that I paid cash and the other Paris-Mauritius that I paid with miles. Will I be able to check my luggages in London for the entire journey?

    • Raffles says:
      12 Oct12 October 08:33

      As fas as I know, Air France hasn’t started playing silly games like BA so it should be ok.

  • Christian kemp says:
    12 Oct12 October 07:24

    Just checked, for two checked in bags, from zone 3, its £50. Thats an absolute bargain. We are going on holiday next week, shame it doesnt start till 26th October.

    A small price to pay to avoid trying to fit baggage in the car and lifting it in and out a few times!

    • John says:
      12 Oct12 October 09:07

      For that price you can get a minicab and the driver will do the heavy lifting.

      • Wayne Phillips says:
        12 Oct12 October 13:10

        Except my minicar driver wouldn’t bring the bags into the terminal and wait in line for me, while looking after my kids… Not for £50 anyway

        • Sean Ng says:
          12 Oct12 October 13:26

          I don’t have kids, but I remember my childhood holidays with two brothers… This could of saved my father from going grey.

          • Alex W says:
            12 Oct12 October 13:48

            But the cab driver might lift the bags onto a trolley for you? Presumably you have to pay for your own transport to the airport on top of the £50. Doesn’t sound like a bargain to me!

  • Richard says:
    12 Oct12 October 07:45

    It’s disappointing that the Finnair/BA joint business doesn’t give any tier bonus for BAEC silver/gold card holders.. unlike the joint business with AA.
    For HEL-JKF direct flights I always book the flight through BA since with a BA flight number gold card holders get 100% bonus. The same flight (booked at the same price) with an AY flight number would not get the bonus.

  • Scott says:
    12 Oct12 October 08:57

    Can you really head straight for security for International Flights? Do you not need to have your passport verified before you can enter the security area?

    At T5 last year on an ex-DUB trip we decided to head landside when connecting on the outbound. When we tried to pass through into the fast track security area we were told we had to go back to a desk and have our passports checked. Would this not apply here too?

    • John says:
      12 Oct12 October 09:13

      It depends on the destination and whether BA trusts you. If you are going to the US and BA has already seen your ESTA before then it might be ok. Sometimes they want to do a passport check even for Europe flights.

      But once when I went to HKG last year, I inadvertently did not bring my passport at all and BA didn’t even notice. (I have a Hong Kong ID card so don’t need a passport to enter HK, but couldn’t leave HK until I got an emergency passport from the British embassy)

    • Fenny says:
      12 Oct12 October 09:46

      If you are HBO and have a boarding pass, you can go straight to security. I assume that having your bags checked in by someone else is exactly the same.

    • Rob says:
      12 Oct12 October 14:44

      Applies for some destinations, but only those requiring a visa. BA will insist on seeing your visa because if you get refused at immigration they bear the cost of getting you home.

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