I have a transatlantic flight out of Heathrow on 2nd December. Unfortunately, its too early for me to connect from Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the same day, so I'm flying down the day before on the same booking. BA admin has been 'non-committal' about whether or not my bags will be checked straight through to the long-haul flight, saying "they might"!

Does anyone here have experience of this situation?