Delayed luggage.... Again!

[JohnK]

Got to SYD airport yesterday evening and checked in 2 pieces for QF548 SYD-BNE. It was going to be touch and go whether I could make the last airtrain in BNE but got to BNE a few minutes late and was wating at the carousel with ~9 minutes to go for the last airtrain and the first bags come out with ~7 minutes to go for the last airtrain. Still plenty of time so I write the date on my airtrain ticket. Here is where the fun starts.

After about 50 or so bags no more appear on the carousel. A few minutes later and another flight and a mixture of QF548 and QF632 start appearing on the carousel. My 2 bags are nowhere to be seen. The last airtrain is gone and I now have an unused ticket with a date written on it.

Go to baggage services to file a missing/delayed luggage report and the person has no idea of the location of my luggage. Perhaps it will be on the next flight and we can courier it out to you because of your status. There was another 4-5 people from the same flight with delayed luggage also filing a report.

It was getting close to the next flight QF552 arriving from SYD so I waited outside for a while. Went back inside and bags started appearing on the carousel and my bags are still not here. Only 50 or so unloaded. There are around 24 people still waiting for luggage. Some went to file a report and most hung around for the next flight.

Finally QF556 arrives and has a mixture of QF548, QF552 and QF556 luggage. I finally spot my bags and head off to Coachtrans only to miss the mini-bus and had to wait another 30 or so minutes for the next. Full mini-bus and did not get back to my apartment until 11:20pm or close to 3 hours after I should have been here.

I got a phone call this morning from Qantas saying that they could not locate my luggage and I said that I waited for the last flight and they were on that flight. He apologised, said he will investigate what happened and would put in a complaint to Qantas customer care on my behalf.

This is now 2-3 times this has happened to me recently. What is going on? This is really not good enough from Qantas but again other than running off to another carrier there is nothing we can do. Why is Qantas providing inferior service while charging a premium for the privilege to fly with them?

Simply not good enough. I will be sending my own feedback to Qantas. By the way I should have been on QF546 until they cancelled it a couple of months ago and put me on the later flight....

 

[docjames]

Argh, what a pain.


That's QF's payback for the recent spate of op-ups they've given you....

 

[ozbeachbabe]

JohnK

I finally spot my bags and head off to Coachtrans only to miss the mini-bus and had to wait another 30 or so minutes for the next. Full mini-bus and did not get back to my apartment until 11:20pm or close to 3 hours after I should have been here.

What about hitting them up for a cab charge to help compensate for the inconvenience?

Also will the airtrain mob let you revalidate your ticket in view of what happened. Supposing you didn't write the date on the ticket....:?:

Sounds as though those SYD baggage handlers need a rocket. It's frustrating when one element of the airline lets the whole side down.

Better luck next time.

Cheers

Oz

 

[dajop]

This is really not good enough from Qantas but again other than running off to another carrier there is nothing we can do.

That's exactly what you can do - if QF are not providing acceptable service it's a free market and you can go to another carrier. Of course there are multitude of reasons why you may not want to and I do agree that this is unacceptable, one expects the luggage for a simple sector like SYD-BNE to make the flights. It's not as if you had a whole stack of connections before hand.

 

[Joshua]

Perhaps it will be on the next flight and we can courier it out to you because of your status.

Is that normal? I thought they would deliver it for anyone. Last time I had delayed luggage it was also a late flight into BNE. ADL-SYD-BNE. Somehow one piece missed getting on my ADL-SYD segment so had a rush tag direct on QF656. That instance baggage services knew what was going on. Had the option to wait for it but I choose leave and have them deliver it early the next morning.

Did get asked if I had any ID on it, my response was QFF tags...

Not shifting blame, but oh why doesn't the Airtrain run even a little bit later :-| I never bother dating the tickets, either their staff will or QR staff grab the ticket off me.

 

[JohnK]

What about hitting them up for a cab charge to help compensate for the inconvenience?

I am not after compensation for the inconvenience just for Qantas to realise they have an issue and fix it. No point in saying "we will look into it" and then nothing gets done.

I was up since 3:00am (BNE time) and only had a 45 minute nap in the afternoon. I was so tired and if it was not for the cooked food in the luggage (can only cook so much in a small apartment with no proper stove or oven) I would have left and let Qantas courier the bags to me.

Also will the airtrain mob let you revalidate your ticket in view of what happened. Supposing you didn't write the date on the ticket....:?:

It is only a date written in pen and I guess I could just write over it and use it next time. I am sure I am not the only this happens and people constantly change plans.

Is that normal? I thought they would deliver it for anyone.

From my understanding Qantas was doing me a favour, due to my status, by promising to deliver the luggage immediately if it arrived that night. I guess for others they could just deliver it in the morning.

Not shifting blame, but oh why doesn't the Airtrain run even a little bit later :-| I never bother dating the tickets, either their staff will or QR staff grab the ticket off me.

One day airtrain will catch up with the real world. I date the tickets myself as the airtrain staff always give me dirty looks, and mumble things I cannot understand, if the ticket is not dated.

That's exactly what you can do - if QF are not providing acceptable service it's a free market and you can go to another carrier. Of course there are multitude of reasons why you may not want to and I do agree that this is unacceptable, one expects the luggage for a simple sector like SYD-BNE to make the flights. It's not as if you had a whole stack of connections before hand.

Forget JQ (not just their reputation but poor scheduling SYD-BNE vv) and that really only leaves DJ and I will never spend enough to get status with them. I hate the seat allocations I get on DJ, airfares (unless one is lucky) are more expensive than QF, I am limited to 23kgs of luggage if I pay extra $10 for it, no free food, no free beverages, inferior terminal in SYD, I despise 737s, and Embraers, even for the short flights etc.

Last night I had 32 kgs checked luggage on QF, a meal and a decent seat in a decent aircraft (767-338) but no luggage on arrival in BNE. I guess we can't have everything....

 

[anat0l]

Firstly, once again, Airtrain is a joke....timetable-wise that is (let's not get started on cost, but the only other similar service in Australia is equally extortionate).

Secondly, no, it is not right that this happened. I'm extremely surprised that baggage services could not locate your baggage and I would be appalled if they had the gall to simply blurt, "It might be on the next flight" without trying to locate it in the system. Baggage services have done comparatively better by me: located my bags, promptly helped me with damaged bag reports, couriered out my bags (and I was a SG then - but not important), etc.

There must be some legal avenue for this kind of disservice. Perhaps the best you can do is document as much as possible every incident that this happens, then take this documentation to TT, ACA or No News. A bit like the BA travesty who loses heaps of bags every single year. Of course, most people would think you a bit strange if you're very p*ssed off with an airline but you refuse to move or admit there is no alternative. Then we are really arguing that either to not fly or select the least of all evils.

However, still note that overall this conduct is still not acceptable and nothing said here will make it otherwise.

I find it hard to comment on these incidents because I have never had a problem with QF and my baggage (except for priority tags not being followed on the "odd" occasion ); lost luggage I have had but quickly located and delivered.

 

[oz_mark]

Back in the day when I was doing the PER-SYD-CBR thing every second week, it was not uncommon for my bags to miss the connection. I always lodged the missing baggage claim, and headed off. My bags were always delivered later in the evening.

 

[anat0l]

...that really only leaves DJ and I will never spend enough to get status with them. I hate the seat allocations I get on DJ, airfares (unless one is lucky) are more expensive than QF, I am limited to 23kgs of luggage if I pay extra $10 for it, no free food, no free beverages, inferior terminal in SYD, I despise 737s, and Embraers, even for the short flights etc.

How about asking for a status match to DJ? They aren't as scary as QF (QF will status match? Yeah - when Hell freezes over! )

At least DJ Silver or Gold will give you free 23 kg baggage (1 piece). You might get some op-ups to PE (= free food and entertainment), otherwise most argue that price of DJ ticket + food ~= price of QF ticket. Of course, unless you're in PE you probably can't get away with drinking more than one standard drink on board (cf. QF you can load on as much as you like (within legal limits)).

Last night I had 32 kgs checked luggage on QF, a meal and a decent seat in a decent aircraft (767-338) but no luggage on arrival in BNE. I guess we can't have everything....

Sure, you can't have everything, but disservice such as this was never "part of the whole deal"........

 

[JohnK]

Secondly, no, it is not right that this happened. I'm extremely surprised that baggage services could not locate your baggage and I would be appalled if they had the gall to simply blurt, "It might be on the next flight" without trying to locate it in the system. Baggage services have done comparatively better by me: located my bags, promptly helped me with damaged bag reports, couriered out my bags (and I was a SG then - but not important), etc.

I would not have been as upset as I was if he had any idea where my luggage was located. And the bad thing is I was not the only one. At least 4-5 other people on my flight and another 20+ plus people on the next flight.

Of course, most people would think you a bit strange if you're very p*ssed off with an airline but you refuse to move or admit there is no alternative. Then we are really arguing that either to not fly or select the least of all evils.

Perhaps I am strange. Luggage although extremely important is only part of the entire service. One needs to look at airfares, service, schedules etc.

How about asking for a status match to DJ? They aren't as scary as QF (QF will status match? Yeah - when Hell freezes over! )

Sure I can may able to get a status match with DJ but that only lasts 12 months. Let's say I do around 80 flights SYD-BNE and vv a year. Assuming an average of $100 per flight that is $8,000 spend per year. I need to spend $10,000 a year to get DJ Gold and that is only good for DJ lounges in Australia anyway.

What about international trips when not flying QF? As a Platinum I still get some benefits when not flying QF and there is enough incentive from the benefits that have not been diluted by QF on their own flights to stick with them. On my recent booking SIN-SYD via MEL I was allocated 40C on the 744 SIN-MEL and 51C (later changed to 80K) on the A380 MEL-SIN legs. No recliners to worry about if those seat allocations stick and the possibility of op-ups to business class as well.

Back in the day when I was doing the PER-SYD-CBR thing every second week, it was not uncommon for my bags to miss the connection.

I can understand with connections things can sometimes go wrong. It would appear that someone was not doing their job in SYD yesterday/last night and that is what is annoying.

 

[dajop]

. On my recent booking SIN-SYD via MEL I was allocated 40C on the 744 SIN-MEL and 51C (later changed to 80K) on the A380 MEL-SIN legs. No recliners to worry about if those seat allocations stick and the possibility of op-ups to business class as well.

Huh! Wish my track record (as a WP) were that good. On the other hand out of my four Y flights last year on EK (as a nohope nobody), on the first one got an exit row allocated at checkin, and on the last three i allocated a seat in the first row of Y when booking - ie a seat where your torso/head travels in Y but legs travel in J . But ... on only of one those those flights the allocation stuck - on the next one I was reassigned to an exit row, and the one after that they moved me forward 5 rows .

 

[JohnK]

Op-ups and exit rows on $400 return airfares? I must be flying the wrong airline.

 

[RB]

Maybe I am missing something. The suggestion of DJ status match seems good & you need to take into account the cost of status runs you are doing to retain QF WP.
While the luggage situation was poor, QF can't take responsibility for your decision to take the risk of cooked food in checked luggage.

 

[markis10]

Op-ups and exit rows on $400 return airfares? I must be flying the wrong airline.

Or the wrong era, I was getting op-ups on $35 BNE-SYD flights for a month after Ansett went bust thanks to being WP, was doing the same commute as you at the time with Sydney for the weekends

I dont miss those trips be it J or Y, the weekend never seemed long enough.

 

[JohnK]

Maybe I am missing something. The suggestion of DJ status match seems good & you need to take into account the cost of status runs you are doing to retain QF WP.

The cost of status runs could be somewhere around the $2,000 mark but that is really irrelevant.

Surely you are not comparing QFF Platinum status to Velocity Gold! It is possible that Velocity Gold could be good for some people but it will not be that useful to me especially on international trips. By the way how many lounges does DJ have in Australia? In most comparisons QF Platinum status wins hands down.

While the luggage situation was poor, QF can't take responsibility for your decision to take the risk of cooked food in checked luggage.

I don't think I ever said QF should accept responsibility for cooked food in checked luggage.

The cooked food in the luggage was the main reason I hung around at the airport waiting for the luggage but I could have decided to remain anyway, and not rely on Qantas to courier it to me, just like the other passengers from earlier flights had waited.

 

[markis10]

I did not think QF had issues with baggage until this weeks trip:

Tues BNE-CNS -DRW Bag got off at CNS and thought Horn Island would be a nice place to spend the night
Thursday AM Bag is reunited with owner
Thursday PM DRW-SYD-BNE Bag decides it had enough of the hot weather and after Sydney heads to CBR for the night
Friday AM Bag arrives at 11AM in BNE


Luckily I had packed some clothes in a carry on so I did not really miss the bag, however the service by Dot at the lost bag counter in DRW was fantastic, if you are going to loose your bag then DRW is the place to report it!

 

[JohnK]

Did receive a call from QF last week after the feedback I provided. She was very apologetic and told me the usual spiel so I just gave up

• No guarantee luggage will be on the same flight as you (but if I request a different flight to my luggage it is against regulations. Go and figure. )
• We try our best and do not always know the whereabouts of your luggage (why bother printing luggage tags and give me a receipt?)
• We have formed a committee that is going to address these issues and can we pass on your feedback to them (sure by all means)

Why even bother providing feedback when all they do is call back and say the will "try" and fix the issues and the same thing continues to happen over and over.

Sometimes I think that carry on only would be the best solution if it was not for all the restrictions in place with size, weight, liquids, sharp objects etc. I would not even mind getting rid of most baggage handlers and taking my own luggage and loading it into the right container....