Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways offering ‘overnight bag drop’ at Heathrow Airport

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

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 10 reasons why you may want to apply for the British Airways American Express credit card.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (181)

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

  • Secret Squirrel says:
    10 Feb10 February 11:13

    OT:
    IHG cards, do you have to wait for a PIN to be sent to you as I thought you choose one online before?
    I can’t see anywhere in my new account to change PIN..

    • Grant says:
      10 Feb10 February 12:25

      You have to wait IIRC and then change it at an ATM – the old fashioned way. You can use it straightaway with Curve though.

      • Secret Squirrel says:
        10 Feb10 February 12:32

        Thanks Grant, Curve use straight away is a good one!

        • Secret Squirrel says:
          10 Feb10 February 12:42

          Only problem now is waiting for the Curve verification code, how long does that take to turn up in your ihg account?

          • Neil Donoghue says:
            10 Feb10 February 12:43

            In the same boat! Nothing coming up at all on my end

          • maccymac says:
            10 Feb10 February 13:39

            It took a couple of days for me

          • Secret Squirrel says:
            10 Feb10 February 14:03

            Sort of defeats the object when having to wait a couple of days to verify card via Curve, by then my real PIN will have arrived.😅

          • Grant says:
            10 Feb10 February 20:12

            It appeared as pending in my account – no code showing. Later the same day (yesterday I think) the transaction dropped off. Went back in to Curve expecting to to go through the process again but the card was showing as verified and worked as expected.

  • 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?

  • 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.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!