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British Airways offering ‘overnight bag drop’ at Heathrow airport

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British Airways is now publicising the fact that you can check in your bags at Heathrow on the day before you fly.

Take a look at this page of ba.com.

Whilst it has only just been added to the website, it appears that this has been quietly offered since last Autumn to anyone who turned up and asked.  British Airways has now decided to make it an official part of its service.

Here are the times it is available, plus times for Gatwick and Edinburgh where it has been offered for a while:

Heathrow Terminal 5 – check-in between 16.00 and 22.00 for flights departing before 13.00 the next day

Heathrow Terminal 3 – service not available

Gatwick South – check-in between 16.00 and 22.00 for flights departing before 13.00 the next day

Edinburgh – check-in between 04.00 and 20.00 (18.00 on Saturdays) for flights departing before 09.30 the next day

It is not available at any other airport at present.  Whether it rolls out further will depend partly on take-up but also on the ability of the airport to handle luggage which is checked in early.

PS.  If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on the top benefits of the British Airways American Express credit card.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (177)

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

  • rams1981 says:
    10 Feb10 February 11:18

    OT Amex Apple Watch £40 credit offer. I bought £400 gift card and it triggered the offer. May be useful for others.

  • LewisB says:
    10 Feb10 February 11:23

    OT: Looking to apply for the IHG Premium later, what’s the best link to use to ensure commission for hfp?

    • Rob says:
      10 Feb10 February 12:31

      There isn’t one. Despite my best attempts Creation won’t pay us (or anyone else, to be fair).

    • memesweeper says:
      10 Feb10 February 13:19

      Lewis — you can always needlessly apply for something else at the same time to pay your sub for HfP 🙂

  • Alex Sm says:
    10 Feb10 February 11:25

    IIRC, when T5 opened in 2008, they declared that baggage drop would be possible up to 24hrs in advance before your flight. This was a USP of that ‘state-of-the-art terminal with bespoke service’. I assumed that it was the case all these years! Apparently not…

    • BJ says:
      10 Feb10 February 11:43

      As far as terminal design goes T5 was 30 years out of date when it opened and still feels so today. It was never state of the art.

  • SimonW says:
    10 Feb10 February 11:47

    O/T – Any seat snagging gurus…… We have been allocated 4 seats for a 747 flight on Friday night in economy. The exit row seats have been blocked ever since I booked months ago, and still are, so not sure if allocated or just being held back…. If I call up, is there any chance BA will move us to them now? Or do I have to hope they are still there at T-24 ?

    • AJA says:
      10 Feb10 February 12:15

      I think you’re out of luck until T-24. If the seats are currently blocked they may become available at T-72 but even then there’s no guarantee.

      • SimonW says:
        10 Feb10 February 12:51

        thanks. i will wait till T-72 and maybe call them then if nothing online. This is our first LH flight in economy for a long time (darn school holidays). It did make me wonder about the ethics of booking a baby in our party, to snag 4 seats and a bassinet, then leaving the baby at home.

        • AJA says:
          10 Feb10 February 13:26

          That is one strategy and quite frankly no worse than David Cameron’s PPO leaving his gun and his and David Cameron’s passports in the loo on board the aircraft.

  • TonyG says:
    10 Feb10 February 11:49

    VA points for instore shop. Do these track? Can you claim missing ones?

    • Rob says:
      10 Feb10 February 12:30

      You can’t retroclaim but it shouldn’t be needed. System is foolproof unless you register with multiple in store reward schemes.

    • Secret Squirrel says:
      10 Feb10 February 12:30

      @Tonyg:
      I got my VA points from Morrison’s shop from last Friday!

  • Kathy says:
    10 Feb10 February 12:24

    As Lee indicates, BA have accepted bags the night before at Gatwick for several years. If you are travelling to the airport the night before it is a great way to beat at the queues.

  • SteveD says:
    10 Feb10 February 12:27

    I like the idea of not having bags to wrangle first thing in the morning, but…

    Assuming 3 of us arriving by car and staying overnight on Bath Road, it seems like a bit of a faff to get ourselves from Hotel to Terminal and back in the evening, to then return in the morning.

    Am I missing something? (Current plan is to stay and park 1 night on Bath Rd, then drive to Pod parking in morning, paid for with transferred HR points).

    • Lady London says:
      10 Feb10 February 12:57

      Why not go via terminal to hotel?

      • SteveD says:
        10 Feb10 February 13:39

        Had assumed eye-watering Short-Stay parking charge, but now I actually LOOK 🙂 it’s not too bad.

        I guess it will come down to what time we make it to LHR and more importantly, what MrsD would prefer.

        • Lady London says:
          10 Feb10 February 18:02

          Also with automated bag drop these days i am wondering if actually it would work if just one person drops all the luggage having all the boarding passes and all the passports to scan on the machine.

  • Phill Ramsay says:
    10 Feb10 February 13:02

    If you were flying into T5 with a flight the next day could you bag drop 2 bags after arrival and then just take a 3rd suitcase with you and check in at the 1st wing on the day of the flight with the 3rd bag? Or am I looking at problems doing that!

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

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