Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
Is the "other bag" a wheelie of some sort? My suspicion is that is what they will be looking for. The fact that row 1 has no under seat storage is irrelevant here, all bags will be going overhead, they are just try to stop people bring large or multiple bags through passenger security. Hence it's needs to be a bag that could potentially go under the seat in front like a backpack or shoulder cabin bag. What no-one can say is how rigorous the enforcement will be, it is an unusual situation, however BA have successfully restricted cabin baggage on 3 separate occasions that I can recall.
Very soft sided bags isn't per se an issue, I've seen LDPE bags (bags for life type bags) go through the system, the West Africa flights have a lot of these bags on board. Laptops on the other hand wouldn't be my choice of item to have checked, even if next week there may be plenty of that going on.
It is a holdall which has 2 adjusting sizes. The smallest size is about 25cms high by about 40 long if full (but it won't be and so it will squash a bit smaller).
I have traveled with the wheeled cabin bag that I am checking and this as my second bag dozens of times and never been pulled up on it (even on a more budget airline). I was given a yellow under the seat tag for it on the way out (which I took even through in 1A) so I assume it must look small enough.
That said Amsterdam and LBA are prime cancellation flights. I assume if my checked bag gets to Amsterdam but I don't have time to collect it (ie If I end up having to go back on the plane I arrive on) that I will get it at some point. In theory I arrive in on the 5pm and out on the one at 21.20 and so plenty of time to collect and recheck, but I know they sometimes select an Amsterdam to remove as they are so frequent, the one before me on the way out was cancelled.
The other option is not to check anything and dash out at T3 and take my bags to hotel at T4, which on another day would work well but with just over 3 hours before connecting I am not sure that I will have the time as I would then have to scan back in at T5.