Originally Posted by
xPositor
I stopped checking my bag in when I discovered that BA's "Priority Luggage" tag was meaningless... Implement a real priority bag handling policy, and group 1's would be more likely to check their bag(s) in (with the added benefits of liquids/aerosols etc).
The lack of priority baggage handling has always been a legitimate complaint and I wish BA could figure it out. That being said as someone who over the previous 15 years never checked a bag on BA I have in the last 12 months been checking in my 20" carry on all the time on shorthaul. With the overheads just being rammed and seemingly no matter how early you board the lockers over Row 1 being filled I just said to hell with stressing out about it. I have found especially flying into T5 most of the time the bags are just coming onto the belt as I get down to the baggage hall anyway. Sure there is the chance that the bag could go missing but I've found it quite liberating not dragging the bag around to save at most 10 minutes. So now I'm back to sitting in Row 1 all the time and boarding at my leisure without worrying about where the bag is going to go. I think because so few people are checking bags now (as can be seen by only a few people standing at the belt) it's cut down on the waiting time for the bag as well. I still carry on my bag on longhaul flights and also if I sense LHR is going to go into one of it's meltdowns I'll avoid checking it but overall something I used to take all steps to avoid doing is working out quite well. I never check my bag to YYZ but that disaster is a YYZ thing for all airlines not just BA.