Baggage collection from people’s homes is a facility that can increase convenience and comfort for customers. Typically, on the day before the flight bags are collected at a convenient time at the passenger’s home or office and takes them to the airport where they are checked-in on the passenger’s behalf. This increases convenience for the customer as on the day of travel. This is because the passenger can travel to the airport baggage free and can therefore go straight through security increasing convenience by saving time as well as lightening the load.
For the business traveler, using a bag collection service may be a must. This is because they may have to travel to the airport for example straight after a meeting. It may not be possible for them to take luggage with them and even if they did it would not be aesthetically pleasing for a business customer. Even for other customers such as the elderly, having help in this way would no doubt reduce the burden of bringing heavy luggage with them to the airport. So how much does the service cost? And how can it be made cheaper?
Airline Offerings
Many of the airlines offer the facility of bag collection. British Airways offers the facility for between £35 To £80 for one bag if you book online. Singapore Airlines offers bag collection for £28 for one bag if it has to be picked up from central London. Certain airlines such as United Airlines do not offer baggage collection from peoples’ homes as a service.
For the business class passenger, certain airlines do offer free baggage collection from your home. British Airways for example offers this for some of its flights. Emirates does not offer a baggage collection service for its customers but does offer a free chauffeur driven car service for its customers from their base to the airport, which may take away the need for a baggage collection service in certain cases. On the other hand, if baggage needs to be taken to an alternative place before going to the airport, having this service may not be worthwhile.
So on the whole, baggage collection, if offered can cost up to £80 for one bag to be taken. Even though this is only the maximum price, there is obviously room for improvement. This is especially true given the fact that in most cases you would be paying a maximum price of around £100 for a taxi journey for yourself to the airport from one’s own home.
Baggage Collection Companies
Baggage collection companies may however be the answer as this in many ways cuts out the middle-man which should allow for a cheaper fee. Airportr for example, works with airlines such as British Airways, Singapore Airlines and easyJet. However, when booking you are taken to the Airportr website, so even though cutting out the middle- man should work in principle it does not work in practice. There are also restrictions as not all airlines work with the same baggage collection company. In addition, there are restrictions at to the airports which the companies work with.
As one can see therefore bringing the cost down for baggage collection is not easy given the fact that airlines generally only work with certain providers. However, the cost can be cheaper depending on the flight and location of the collections point. British Airways boasts that costs can be as little as £19 for baggage collection from one’s home or office. This is however not the same always. We have to wait to see how this progresses.
