Originally Posted by
seattlebruce
It's not clear what they do with this information. I doubt they say "Wow, there are a lot of skis on tomorrow's flight, so let's substitute a bigger plane". Maybe they just use this as a way of deciding whose skis get on if they don't all fit. Conceivably if I called them 2 days before my flight and they told me my skis might not fit, I'd choose to rent skis at the destination, but I'd probably try to check mine anyway since renting is always a backup option.
BA and indeed all carriers will do lots of planning if the advance information is provided. Simple example would be electric wheelchairs. Knowing that these are coming allows for load planning and allocation of the required empty loading bin at the aircraft side. The required resource to manage this would also be assigned so as to properly secure these into the bin for loading. Indeed if there were multiple electric chairs being accepted, then as note, this could affect cargo, use of hold 5, etc.