Your day is organised to maximise your time. You specifically book your flight so you can be in the office for the morning, travel to the airport in the afternoon, dinner in the lounge, tidy up the rest of your emails and then sleep on the plane so you’re ready to hit the ground running. All sounds great. But you’re going for a week and you need to check in a suitcase, how long is that going to take? Never mind lugging it across the city in the morning rush hour, and then out to the airport. So what do you do?
Your options include:
Travelling by taxi. Sounds great but depends on your budget and where you work.
Just travelling with hand luggage. Always an option but it depends on how long you are going and what you need to take with you.
Have someone pick up your bag from home or the office and check it in for you so the next time you see it is on the carousel at your destination. Sound too good to be true? Not if you fly with British Airways, American Airways, and now, Finnair.
Airportr is the company offering this service for customers of British Airways travelling from Heathrow or Gatwick, American Airlines from Heathrow and now, on a trial basis, Finnair from Heathrow. Prices start at £30 (1 bag with an hour collection slot) and the service gets really positive reviews (they get 4.7/5 from Feefo reviews). Oh and the best bit, this works in reverse too, so when you arrive back in the UK you can make a swift departure to the Arrivals lounge, home or the office and your luggage will be delivered to the address you give them.
But is there a catch? We’ve summed up the key points to help you decide if it’s a service for you:
There are some basic criteria you need to meet. You need to be travelling with BA, AA or Finnair (during the trial period) from Heathrow or Gatwick.
Airline baggage limits apply, including any additional bags from your Executive Club membership or cabin. If your bags are found to be over your allowance when they are checked in at the airport you’ll need to collect them, pay the excess and then check them in yourself so there is definitely an incentive to be within your limits.
Do they pick up from anywhere in the UK? No, not at the moment anyway. They will pick up from any address in London and Home Counties addresses. There is a full list of postcodes on their website and the only caveat is that if you want them to pick it up from a train station, you’ll have to specify a nearby address like a cafe or hotel.
They’ve built in some flexibility for when your plans change and you can amend your slot up to 2 hours before.
I know this all sounds great but is it actually secure? You’re essentially handing over your suitcase to strangers and a) hoping it arrives and b) hoping it isn’t tampered with. Airportr give the following information on their website regarding security:
Are the AirPortr services secure?
What happens if I get asked if anyone has tampered with my bags?
What if my bag goes missing?
We have never lost a bag in our care. All bookings can be tracked online by using the link in your confirmation email or logging into your account.If your bags have not arrived on the carousel when you land but you have received your IATA bag tag receipt from AirPortr via email then this is confirmation your bags were checked in with British Airways.
For more information and FAQ’s go to the Airportr website.