British Airways has partnered with AirPortr to develop additional handy fast bag drop locations before heading to the departures concourse at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 in London. Customers will be able to drop off their bags at the Heathrow Express train platforms at peak times**, before traveling bag-free directly through security. Before being collected from the reclaim at their destination, AirPortr’s personnel seals, secures, and checks-in bags for clients’ flights.
Customers can also plan luggage pickups from their home address starting at £19*. This service allows travelers to check in their belongings with a vetted delivery driver from the comfort of their own home. Once collected, AirPortr guarantees that baggage are sealed and tracked throughout the delivery process. Passengers can track their luggage online from the time it leaves their front door or the T5 key access locations until it is loaded onto the plane. Customers who use the services get digital bag tag receipts as well.
Tom Stevens, British Airways’ Director of Customer Experience said: “Ahead of July 19, we have been busy investigating and trialling ways to ensure that we can offer our customers the smoothest journey through the airport possible.
We believe this contactless initiative with AirPortr allows our customers to avoid baggage check-in queues and move through the airport without the hassle of carrying luggage, as well as offering the reassurance that we are doing everything we can to ensure the safe delivery of their bags from doorstep to destination.”
Randel Darby, CEO and Founder of AirPortr Technologies said: “We’re proud to be able to play our part in helping British Airways and its customers with the restart of international travel this summer. Seamless, contact-free journeys through the airport are in everyone’s best interests and removing bags from the equation makes this possible for many more people. As the specialist in this space, we’re excited to be working with British Airways once again to lead development of innovative new baggage solutions, for the benefit of customers travelling in a post-pandemic world.”
As well as the AirPortr’s luggage service, British Airways also offers a special twilight baggage drop service the night before travel from Heathrow Terminal 5, when customers are able to deliver their bags to the airport terminal between 4 and 9 pm the day before they travel.
The airline is still looking into how it might incorporate other technology to improve the passenger experience, such as using digital travel apps to ensure travelers meet the entry requirements for their destination before arriving at the airport. VeriFLY is presently available on all flights to and from the United States, Canada, and France, as well as all inbound flights. In addition, the airline recently announced its participation in IATA’s Travel Pass program. British Airways flights from Heathrow to Geneva and Zurich will be the first to use the digital travel system.
Customers flying with British Airways to Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal can now upload their negative Covid-19 test result and accompanying paperwork straight to ba.com for verification prior to departure.
In other news, the airline is testing new Qmatic intelligent queuing technology, which allows customers to virtually queue at check-in by pre-booking their slot time before arriving at the airport.
Source: traveldailynews.com