Originally Posted by
southsquare
In fact, I explicitly told the staff member that I was leaving the airport for around 4 hours and checked that someone would still be available on my return. She confirmed - with the downtrodden look of someone working late on Christmas Eve but with a professional smile - that she'd be there until Flounge closed at 10pm. As to risk, items that reach that storage area have been through security at least once (on entry to airside) and in this case, twice (at BHD and again on transfer at LHR). Any item not claimed from that storage area when Flounge closes is taken to Airport Lost Property (a process that takes around 24 hours), from which it can then be reclaimed in the usual way i.e. ID plus handling fee (for around 2 months afterwards). By the way, I found a small piece of IT kit down the side of my chair in the Flounge. I was in the terrace area in one of the new large black semi-enclosed chairs. If it's yours (to any reader of this posting), I turned it in so it should reach Lost Property in around 24 hours.
Irrespective of the rights, wrongs or morals of leaving luggage in the lounge storage facility, it certainly does add an extra dimension of risk. To get to the lounge you have to pass security, hence your Ready to Fly flag will need to be reset if in T5 so either you have to wait for about an hour for the formal escort out, or take the train to T5C and back which would result in having to get if sorted yourself. Either way, on a 6-hour layover, that's going to eat up sufficient time - and additionally introduce all the associated difficulties including potentially losing a seat reservation - that it would likely make leaving the airport moot in the first place.