Qantas has begin trialling a self-service bag drop facility at London's Heathrow Airport.
Located in the Qantas Economy checkin area (at Zone F in Heathrow's Terminal 3), just past the check-in kiosks, the bag drop channel is available for all Qantas and British Airways passengers.
The only catch: you have to hold an Australian, New Zealand or British passport, be travelling to Australia as your final destination and not have checked-in online.
Qantas says the move "is the first step to launching more elements of Faster, Smarter Check-in internationally".
"Faster, Smarter Check-in" is the new customer-friendly name for Next-Generation Check-in, which is now available at all Qantas terminals around Australia and in December last year was extended to New Zealand.
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
07 Aug 2012
Total posts 193
When they say "not have checked-in online" does this mean you need to use the check in kiosk and then drop your bag? A bit risky if you haven't pre-selected your seat, you might end up with a middle rear seat..
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
25 May 2012
Total posts 580
It's worth noting that if the LHR T3 trial is successful they'll probably have it at DXB shortly after they re-route there given that Emirates already has similar infrastructure in place (and has had for at least the past 5 years).
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3012
Here's a novel idea:
Now that the Australian mainland is excised, why don't Qantas employ non-unionised staff from the developing world on much lower wages to increase efficiency and service levels at their airports without all this self-service baggage drop palava! LOL
I don't know about you but I'd rather queue at LAX to make sure my bags are tagged and safe on its way to the A380 belly then being lost in the LAX/US airports checked baggage system!
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