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Leaving luggage at the airport during a long layover

Posted by (Denver, CO) on

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I will be flying from the U.S. to London Heathrow on our way to Inverness in October 2023. Our short layover turned into a long 8 hour layover when British Airways changed our flight times. As a result, we've decided to leave the airport to see Windsor Castle and have lunch. We'll be flying into Terminal 5 and out of Terminal 5 and we'll only have carry-on luggage.

I've found a place across the river from the castle through NannyBag where we can leave our bags for a small fee. On second thought, I'm thinking it might be easier to leave our bags at the airport and not have to take them with us for the day. London Heathrow has a baggage storage service through the Excess Baggage Company. Has anyone used this service? Will there be any issues involving customs and our luggage? I'm assuming if we drop it off in Terminal 5 and pick it back up in Terminal 5, that this would be preferable to leaving the airport and having to go through security with it on the way back in. It seemed that there were lots of baggage storage locations within the airport. I'm a little worried about selecting the wrong one and not having easy access when picking up our bags to continue to Inverness.

We've never left baggage before, so I'm not sure if I've asked enough questions or thought about all possible issues.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Lisa

Posted by
8165 posts

I would definitely leave your luggage at the airport - it makes no sense to take it off and have to carry it somewhere else. There are left luggage stations run by Excess Baggage in most terminals, including Terminal 5. Here's a guide that shows you the left luggage location in Terminal 5. Go to https://www.left-baggage.co.uk/en/locations then click "Left Luggage: Terminal 5 Arrivals" and it will show you directions and a photo of what it looks like.

Posted by
8165 posts

One other thing you might consider is checking your bags, rather than dragging along a carry-on. That's what I would do if I had an 8 hour layover. It's just too much trouble to deal with it, and the odds of the luggage not making it are slim. In fact if you have AirTags, you'll be able to make sure bags get on the flight.

But YMMV. :)

Posted by
590 posts

We used Excess Baggage at Heathrow last year to store my husband’s golf clubs for four days while we explored London (didn’t want to haul them around until we picked up the rental car). It was fine. As I recall we paid in advance and got a claim check to show for retrieval. It’s not a fancy looking place. They have multiple locations at LHR, I think we used the one in Terminal 3.

Posted by
1233 posts

To go to Windsor you will have to leave airside. As a result your bags will be left airside and will have to go back through security when you return. The only way to avoid this is to check them and they will be transferred straight through to Inverness.

Posted by
16 posts

Thank you for the advice!

The airlines have lost my luggage several times in the past, so for all our flights in the last several years we've only brought carry-ons. Lost luggage can really ruin a trip. With that being said, we will probably check our luggage this time and buy some Airtags to put inside so at least we know where it has gone.

Avoiding having to store our luggage makes the most sense for us on this trip. We really appreciate the suggestions!

Lisa

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