We did an online check-in for British Airways last night and it said on the Boarding Pass that bag-drop opens at 0500. So we thought we’d be able to drop our bags after breakfast then head into the city for a few hours and return to the airport for boarding the evening flight. Unfortunately when we got to the airport we were told that bags can only be accepted 2 hours prior. That was a check-in fail!
So there goes our day of doing stuff in London … not that we had anything specific in mind. The alternative was to pay a hefty GBP8 to store each of our two pieces of luggage. Having worked with an airline and at an airport before, I understand the logic, logistics and space limitations … but it does say on the boarding pass that bag drop opens at 0500. There are airlines and airports that offer an early check-in service (because they try a bit harder). The check-in lady said “Yes, I know … I’ve told them many times to fix the information on the boarding pass … the information there is definitely wrong”.
Fortunately we ran into some Air New Zealand London-based crew who offered us their briefing room as a refuge. With a departure time of 1950 to Lisbon, we killed part of the morning and most of the afternoon in there.
Arriving in Portugal at 2230, I found it strange to be amongst people who had the names Fernandez, Nunes or Pereira that weren’t Indian. Growing up in Malaysia, people with Portuguese names were always 100% Indian in appearance … they are descended from the Portuguese either locally or from South India.