AirPortr bag transfer, London

I read in ITN (Feb. ’16, pg. 52) that travelers flying into London at Gatwick, Heathrow or London City airport can have their luggage delivered anywhere in the city, and back to the airport, by AirPortr (phone +44 203 384 6677, portr.com). Traveling with friends, my husband and I used the service for the first time during a London Heathrow Terminal 5 arrival in May 2016.

I booked ahead on AirPortr’s website, which is very user-friendly, and received bar-code labels that I printed out at home (though I ended up not needing to attach them to the bags). We paid a total of £40 (near $53) to have four suitcases transported — £25 for the first plus £5 for each additional bag.

At the time of booking, I advised AirPortr that, upon our arrival, we would spend some time in the British Airways lounge before dropping off our bags. After we landed, the agent at the AirPortr desk emailed me to say that she was available to process our luggage at our convenience. 

Normally, we would have dropped our bags off with AirPortr before proceeding to breakfast in the BA lounge, but because we had planned an intense day of sightseeing right out of the gate, we needed to rearrange the contents of our carry-on bags and suitcases to lighten our load, so we went to the lounge first, stopping by the AirPortr desk on our way to the Heathrow Express train.

The AirPortr drop-off desk outside international-arrivals Terminal 5 was quite small, a temporary setup, but no worries, as the staff was quick and efficient. They attached security ties to our suitcase zippers, and I was handed a receipt.

We dropped our bags off at 8:45 a.m., and they were delivered (well within the promised 6-hour window) to the hotel’s concierge, who locked them in the luggage room. (About two weeks prior, I had alerted the hotel via email that we would be using AirPortr, sending the AirPortr booking reference number to the guest services manager.) I received an email from AirPortr at 1 p.m. alerting me to my luggage’s arrival at the hotel.

The only thing that was a little bit of a problem was the presence of the plastic security ties. When I asked the AirPortr agent if they would be removed upon delivery, she said the driver would remove them, but the ratcheted-loop ties were still on all four suitcases at the hotel.

On one hand, we knew the bags hadn’t been opened by anyone en route. On the other hand, we needed a cutting tool to cut off the ties, and our small Swiss Army knife was, you guessed it, inside a suitcase!

By repeatedly twisting the tie on his suitcase, my husband eventually snapped it off, then he got his knife out and cut the ties off the other bags.

I was very pleased with this service and found it to be a good value. I plan to use AirPortr again on our next trip to London.

JoANN IRWIN

Lancaster, PA