Bits: Airportr ski equipment offer, BA refusing to budge on ‘two tickets’ baggage transfer

News in brief:

Airportr offering free transfer of ski equipment this winter

We’ve covered Airportr a few times on Head for Points.  This is the luggage collection service whereby your suitcases can be collected from your home or office and taken to the airport for you to pick up in the departure terminal – or in some cases they can even be checked in for you.  

On your return, you can drop your cases with them whilst you head straight to your home or office – and at London City on BA domestic flights they will even find your luggage on the carousel for you.

We reviewed the service here if you want to know more about it.

Until 31st March, Airportr will transport your winter sports equipment for free when you pay for at least one suitcase to be collected.  Given that ski and snowboard equipment is even less fun to carry around than suitcases, this is well worth a look.  Details can be found on the Airportr site here.

British Airways refusing to budge on checked through bags

Late last year, all of the oneworld alliance members were told that they could, if they wished, now refuse to check through bags between oneworld airlines when the passenger was travelling on a separate ticket.

In plain English, this means that if you were flying British Airways to Doha and then connecting to a Qatar Airways flight to Delhi – booked on a separate ticket – BA would refuse to check your bags through to Delhi.

British Airways jumped on the opportunity to do his because it is a money saver – they are no longer liable to compensate you if your bags fail to connect.  They really pushed the boat out, however, by also refusing to check through baggage between two British Airways flights on separate tickets.

This is astonishingly inconvenient.  In the Doha example above, the passenger now needs to collect their baggage in Doha, clear immigration in Doha – which includes paying for a Qatari Visa, go the Qatar check-in desks (luckily Doha is a one-terminal airport) and then clear security again.  Some people have found themselves separated from their luggage because they did not have the necessary visa to go landside in order to re-check their bags.

Cathay Pacific made the same changes as BA.  However, within a few weeks, they backtracked under substantial pressure from passengers.  You can now check through a bag on two Cathay Pacific flights when booked on separate tickets.

BA will not budge.  If you thought it would, you should know that travel agents are receiving a continual bombardment of emails from the airline – two in the last week alone – reminding them not to do this.

Here is typical example from last week (the bolding was in the original):

“It is important that you never advise customers that the airports may be able to through check-in when they have tickets issued on separate bookings, as the airport teams are unable to assist resulting in frustration for the customer at check-in.

In addition to not being eligible for through check-in, customers travelling on separate tickets issued on different PNR’s will need to collect their bags at the transit point and re-check in, their baggage allowance and lounge access may differ depending on the fare paid for each sector and Conditions of carriage guidelines only apply for the disrupted sector and not on any separate connection.”

Charming.  It saves a few quid though, so …..

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

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

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

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel 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:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company 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

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

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)