Luggage Fear

[Frostytiger87]

Hi , we’re going on a long haul in 2 weeks from Heathrow a trip which should have happened before covid . If it wasn’t for the fact it’s a 2 week holiday I’d take hand luggage 🙈
I have decided not to take clothes that I love but I’m so nervous that our luggage will go missing
Anyone else ?

I usually like to check in my luggage because I like to be rid of it at the airport and not have to play Jenga at the overhead locker but the last two times I went further distances I checked my larger case and packed a smaller one (maximum dimensions allowed for carry on) with what I thought would last 5-7 days “just in case”. Luckily both were warm destinations so light versatile clothes, essential medication, swimmers, sandals, chargers. We had no issues but better safe than sorry.

Just take your clothes, even if the suitcase goes missing you’ll get it back eventually, but it’s such a low risk it’s really not worth worrying about

Split your clothes with your travel partner so you have a few cases of mixed clothes rather than one each, and put your favourite stuff plus some essentials as hand luggage

It certainly puts you off buying new expensive clothes for your holiday. Split clothes between suitcases, something I’ve always done. I also put some clothes in hand luggage and never put anything valuable in suitcases. I’ve taken old underwear that’s passed it’s best and thrown away after wearing and wear new clothes going and coming home.

We’ve just bought a set of AirTags to go in our suitcases this year so if anything happens to them at least we can see where they are!

If you can afford it get Apple air tags - we put one in each suitcase that we checked (flew out of and into Heathrow in the last two weeks). I was able to watch their movements about the airports, made me a lot calmer seeing where they were and making sure they'd made it with us! I even had one in our parked car at the airport to check on it during the holiday too.

Has anyone flown from Heathrow recently? I'm flying at 6am on Thursday. Hopefully.

Were the queues okay?

Thankyou for your great replies & advice . I like the idea of the Air Tags but my husband feels that if the airport pick it up on a scanner they might think it’s something untoward 🤣

@Dic
Yes. But Business with BA in T5. No issues.

I've done exactly the same this year.

Tempted to travel out with hand luggage only as we have washing facilities. If we need more space on the way home we can buy a case in the US to come home.

If it gets lost at LGW we only live 25 mins away and can go back and get it later.

That’s Perfect Pipescatter , have a nice time

I flew with BA from T5 Heathrow yesterday and it was a lot better than I'd feared. Slight queue through security (even in fast track) but the plane arrived early and we were out of the airport with our hold luggage 15 minutes after landing.

A word of warning about taking only hand luggage. My friend did this and it ended up being put in the hold due to lack of room. Because of this, it wasn't scanned like the normal hold luggage. It didn't arrive the other end, and as it wasn't scanned, BA can't currently provide any details of where it might be.

I just got back from a 2 week long haul (2 flights each way) trip from LHR T4.
Zero problems or delays. No queues. I checked 2 bags.

Think the media are scaremongering.

I returned from a long haul flight via Heathrow at the weekend and all of our bags made it. We flew in to Terminal 3 and there were over 200 bags randomly stacked around the carousels with not a single staff member about. Anyone could have helped themselves to any of the bags. The issue was the same at our destination airport so it’s not just the U.K. that’s experiencing problems at the moment. We always split our clothes across two bags, just in case a bag goes missing. Good luck.

An hour queue at bag drop at 8.30 yesterday and an hour for security at 9.30. However, flown 3 times previously this year and all were fine. I only ever take hand luggage (bag drop yesterday was colleagues) but I have priority boarding so always manage to get my case on. Flying easyJet in the summer from Gatwick and will take swimmers and one outfit in hand luggage.

We flew through terminal 2 at Heathrow last weekend with hand luggage no problem
Our next trip is Heathrow Business so I’m hoping that it’s ok

@Frostytiger87
If you are going Business, get to Heathrow bag drop at least 3 hours early. We found this made us calmer. Go to the lounge after bag drop. Check the priority labels get on your bags. Then do priority for security having sorted out your hand luggage re liquids, lap top etc to get through quickly. Then relax in the lounge. They are still delivering the hot food after you order it. Cold food is help yourself. Wines, coffee etc available so it’s ok for a wait! Hopefully your flight won’t go red! From what we’ve seen, it’s mostly short haul. We left late but not a disaster. With Heathrow limiting flights now, the process should be better.

Thankyou for your advice Tizerorfizz, travelling at the moment is stressful especially long haul but I will divide my luggage with my daughter & take a couple of outfits as hand luggage . A few years ago my case went missing for the first 4 days & wrecked my holiday as I was stupid enough not to take a few essentials in my hand luggage , Once bitten

I've taken hand luggage for a 2 week holiday. Just used a rucksack and vac bags to compress.
I've done that once this year on a 2 week holiday in may and for a weeks holiday at the end of June.
It saved a lot of queuing time and worrying if luggage was going to arrive or not.

get a airtag or something similar if you dont have a iphone - it really does give you peace of mind knowing your luggage is in the same place as you
and if it does go missing its easier to locate

Flying transatlantic with BA from Heathrow Terminal 5 and I have the same concerns going for 6 weeks with 2 small kids so I have to check in 2 bags!
So worried about losing our bags, I've decided to keep my more valuable items in the carry on bag just in case as well as change of clothes for everyone and necessary medication and toiletries. Keeping fingers crossed!

I did BA from terminal 3 and 5 - absolutely fine both times, enough time to get in and have food with no rush! I did put two outfits and underwear into my hand luggage just to make sure, but everything turned up perfectly.

The airport scanners won't pick up on an AirTag as anything dodgy - it's essentially a small battery powered device so won't show up as anything weird so don't worry about that! I have one on my keys too which went through my hand luggage with me, just shows as a small battery 😊

We did get priority for security, but tbh when we flew (flight at just after 7am) the airport was fairly calm anyway.

Air tags sound very good are they accurate ?

They're accurate within their range - so if it's in your luggage I was able to tell when it was on the plane, when it had been offloaded and when it was about to come around the luggage belt! I also left one in our car in the airport car park and could see it hadn't moved all holiday which helped my worrying nature. They ping to all iPhones to get their location (so even if it's not with you, it can use other iPhones to get its location), you can get a really good generalised location using any surrounding iPhone and then when the item is closer it will direct you in ft and direction which is helpful.

I personally was able to track it every step of the way so it worked really well for me 😊 if you have chance to pop to an Apple store they can probably give you more technical information!

thankyou Mrszclaus ,I’ll look into them they sound brilliant