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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.

British Airways offering 'overnight bag drop' at Heathrow

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 points from UK credit cards

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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:

Nectar American Express

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

American Express Platinum card Amex

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 card

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.)

Comments (183)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    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:

      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:

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

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          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:

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

          • maccymac says:

            It took a couple of days for me

          • Secret Squirrel says:

            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:

            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:

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

  • LewisB says:

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

  • Alex Sm says:

    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:

      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:

    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:

      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:

        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:

          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:

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

    • Rob says:

      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:

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

  • Kathy says:

    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:

    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:

      Why not go via terminal to hotel?

      • SteveD says:

        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:

          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 posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.