Luggage left behind, very poor qantas

[greg-777]

Flew qf459 tonight Sydney to Melbourne, on arrival to Melbourne was paged to attend bagage service, bag left in Sydney.They logged it and gave me the reference details. Checked it online when arrived at the hotel at was on a later flight landing at 21:35, was told if in on the next flight would be sent to the hotel in Melbourne via courier as long as it was before 11pm. They just called the hotel, not my listed mobile number as provided at 10:30 won't leave the airport until 7 am tomorrow.I'm sorry qantas this really isn't good enough, I now need to cancel a 7 am meeting tomorrow and other training , so much for being a gold frequent flyer doing the right thing and checking bagagge and using ngci. In future I'll do what everyone else and just bring overweight carryon....You know virgin really are pushing hard to win my business....I have loyalty and I understand bags get lost, delayed but a least fix it when it arrives...My return trip may very well be my last....

 

[mannej]

It is unfortunate when it happens, but there is not much you can do about it.

If you have items that are vitally important, and can be packed into your hand luggage, then do it.

Honestly, they have contacted you in all steps of the process so far, as frustrating as it is, apart from deliver the bags, there is not much more they could have done.

The question you could ask is what would Virgin do if they left your bags behind?

 

[Vinny]

I have a better description of QF luggage 'service' but I'd doubt if the post would stay on for long.

Two years ago I landed in SYD on a late QF international flight and had a tight domestic connection to make. I asked to be put on a later flight as there was no way my luggage would get to the domestic terminal let alone me. I was in no hurry and prepared to wait. Request ignored.

Arrived at the holding pen at the international terminal for the bus along with about 200 others. Bus was waiting but nothing happening except staff were having a protracted conversation. Eventually a QF employee shouted to the driver and those checking boarding passes 'Is this secret men's business or something? Get to work!. Only room for one bus load. I had to take the second bus 20 mins later.

Arrived at the domestic terminal to be sternly told I was late. And in a none too polite manner. I asked about my bags which resulted in a shrug and told I was lucky to be getting a seat. I thought luggage had to be on the flight with the booked passenger but I'm probably wrong here.

Arrived BNE. No luggage. Went to the long line at the missing luggage counter to be given a number and website and told to check every few days to see where my luggage was. Five days later my luggage arrived by courier. No ETA given, just a date. The tag on my bag indicated it left SYD 30 mins after I did. Bags arrived in BNE while I was in the missing bags line. Where were my bags for five days? No explanation or apology from QF. Not even the offer of a few bonus points for the inconvenience.

Bloody pathetic.

 

[Robert K]

Two years ago I landed in SYD on a late QF international flight and had a tight domestic connection to make. I asked to be put on a later flight as there was no way my luggage would get to the domestic terminal let alone me. I was in no hurry and prepared to wait. Request ignored. .

Well, if you knew there's no way your luggage would get to the domestic terminal, maybe shouldn't have booked that flight?

 

[Vinny]

Two years ago I landed in SYD on a late QF international flight and had a tight domestic connection to make. I asked to be put on a later flight as there was no way my luggage would get to the domestic terminal let alone me. I was in no hurry and prepared to wait. Request ignored.

Well, if you knew there's no way your luggage would get to the domestic terminal, maybe shouldn't have booked that flight?

Umm I did ask for a change of flights. Computer said NO.

 

[ejb]

Umm I did ask for a change of flights. Computer said NO.

That would indicate you had booked the flights originally.

Only once did my bags not arrive with me and QF had them in my hands the next morning by 6am.

To prevent problems in the future you should allow more time for transfers.

ejb

 

[Vinny]

Once again, my international flight arrived in SYD late and QF insisted on booking me on the original connecting flight despite it being impossible to make the connection.

I am talking 20 minutes from getting out of immigration to departure time for the connecting flight. I don't think I'm to blame when QF staff tried to keep me on the original booking made by them which was obviously impossible to make. The original onward domestic booking would have been fine for a connection, but due to the lateness of the international flight (which can happen to any flight on any airline) there was no chance of making it.

The checkin agent was just trying to get another customer out of her way instead of looking at the reality of the situation.

 

[Noob]

Luggage being left behind is a tough one, you can argue it shouldn't have happened in the first place but it is a pretty common thing in the airline world on any airline. If staff keep you informed, appologise, and try to fix the situation asap there really is nothing else they can do other than offer compensation.

In other words this could have happened at Virgin or any other airline just as easily, bit of bad luck. At the end of the day, fly with the airline you think offers you a better product and cares about you as an individual guest, not simply a number which makes them money.

 

[nlagalle]

Sometimes it happens with luggage.. hence why on most trips I will take carry on only. makes it safer.

Years ago when I was on the Baton Relay (with checked baggage) I was flying MEL-CNS and as i arrived i heard my name being paged. I went over to find that my bag was sent to ADL.. Anyway I was assured it would be delivered to the hotel at 4pm.. Sure enough it was, however it was damaged somewhat.. I never bothered to claim it as it was a cheap coughola bag..

 

[greg-777]

I'm ok with the luggage being left behind I guess, that's life, the qantas ladies at the baggage services desk Melbourne were very nice and helpful, the issue I have is that if it came in on qf487 and landed at 21:35 as per world tracer then they should have sent it out to me that night, still plenty of time. Anyway lesson learned from your advice, I'll tale carry on from now on. Need to learn to pack even leaner. At least when I get home on future trips, I won't wait 25 minutes at Sydney to claim as it takes forever.

 

[Verde]

I think it would help if they were more proactive in resolving things.

I tried out the new DFW Qantas flight in July. I was a bit worried about luggage being left behind on the return leg (departing DFW on Wed 13th) but relaxed when the winds were in our favour and were shaving nearly an hour off the flight - so thought surely they'd have no weight issues then. Plus I saw my bag had been tagged Business (this was my last flight to get me to Platinum) so I thought that might make it one of the last bags to be off loaded if some had to be.

Unfortunately I was wrong and along with about fifteen other people in Brisbane had to file lost luggage reports (and I wonder if there was a similar number who were going on to Sydney who would need to do it as well).

The baggage services desk were fairly nice about it, explained this is common with the DFW flight, I was offered an amenities kit (which in hindsight I kind of wish I'd accepted just to see what was inside, but I wasn't too worried since I was driving home once I got my connecting flight to Melbourne).

The queue went slowly - only having two staff until halfway through the line when another pair showed up to speed things up. I'd been going to try the showers in the Qantas Club (since I just feel a bit grotty after flights of that length) but didn't have enough time after doing the paper work and getting the bus over to the domestic terminal, so I still haven't had a chance to use them yet.

Sadly, I'd checked in early enough to DFW that they probably could have flown my bag to LAX and had it on the direct flight to MEL not too far out from when I ended up getting there.

My flight got in Friday thanks to timezones, Saturday about 1pm I got a phone call saying my bag was in Albury and at about 4pm a guy is dropping it off to me (I live 100km from Albury, which is my closest airport). I'd half been expecting them to make me wait for the Monday freight service to come out here, so it was a significant redeeming factor that they had someone spend 2.5 hours to drive from Albury and back just to drop it off ASAP.

So I was reasonably satisfied with the process of getting the bag to me (only 36 hours late), just disappointed that it is a known issue with DFW and on this occasion it probably shouldn't have happened since they knew they were having an easier flight (15 instead of 16 hours they announced, though it wasn't quite that quick) and could have had it to LAX in time for those flights if they were proactive.

Curiously, while I was in the USA I did the SEA-LAX-LAS run (well, I did want to revisit the Grand Canyon) and for whatever reason, Alaska Airlines flew my bag on their direct flight to LAS separately rather than via LAX for the American Airlines flight I connected to. I was just starting to wonder where my bag was when there was an announcement for me to come collect it from the American Airlines baggage office where it had been dropped in by Alaska staff a bit earlier. So my bag didn't fly with me, but was there on time ready for me.

My other lost luggage story this year was more disappointing as far as airlines go. I did the BNE-MEL-SYD-NAN J run and for whatever reason my luggage got lost in Melbourne (going by the rush baggage tag it ended up with, coming in to NAN on a MEL flight).

AirPacific weren't very interested in taking details or with helping with any kind of amenity kit so I started my holiday with very little. The bag came in on the flight from MEL (which I think is only an hour or two after the Sydney flight) and sat there. A few phone calls later the next day, they finally found it with the "wrong" flight number on it (ie. the MEL rather than SYD flight) at about 2pm and got it to me about 2 hours later. Clearly there needs to be a better process so that AirPacific can recognise luggage coming on other flights and match it to lost baggage reports - if they'd been on the ball they could have had it to me late that night or first thing the next morning.

So I guess other than losing it in the first place, Qantas isn't so much to blame in the Fiji case (though they could have told AirPacific there was a lost luggage bag arriving on that flight that they would need to get to me), but it was annoying to spend most of my first day in Fiji without any change of clothes etc (well, I ended up buying some gear, but if they'd been a bit more proactive then things would have been much nicer). Half of my irritation is due to expectations - that if on a paid J ticket (even a cheap one like for the NAN run) then airlines should be at their best. If on a cheap economy ticket I can understand them being a bit less urgent about it (and would have understood the lack of effort in following up on the luggage - but clearly in MEL they retagged my luggage and could have been proactive in talking to AirPacific). If my DFW flight was paid business (rather than the luggage tagged business because I was Gold QFF), I'd have been really angry that it was left behind.

 

[munitalP]

In my 1000's of flights with QF in the last 10 years, my luggage has gone astray only a few times, and each it has, the luggage has arrived as promised. The last time it went missing was on a DJ flight, the time before QF. I had my usual driver pick the luggage up and deliver it to home rather than waitig for the QF taxi service i.e. off the ramp.

I have never had a courrier deliver - maybe they do things different in other states.

I'm very lucky that my luggage has only gone astray on my way to a job once - that was inconvenient however arrived the next morning so I didn't need to cancel anything. Yelling and screaming at whichever airline misplaced your luggage will do no good - in fact, if I was on the receiving end, I would ensure your luggage took days to arrive!

@vinny - after collecting your luggage at SYD, then wheeling it to the DOM transfer and rechecking it to BNE, you say it took 5 days to arrive? Sure is something fishy here! Why would you accept no explanation from the airline involved? You must have been on their case daily surely? What did they say?

 

[markis10]

Well, if you knew there's no way your luggage would get to the domestic terminal, maybe shouldn't have booked that flight?

Not many of us can foresee late flights at the time of booking and take this into account

 

[Reggie]

Flew qf459 tonight Sydney to Melbourne, on arrival to Melbourne was paged to attend bagage service, bag left in Sydney.

Be thankful they paged you, on several occasions I have had to wait til all the other bags have come out to realise my bags hadn't made it. Go to desk, and they knew about it, didn't bother to page me though.

I don't trust the new tags through bad experience. Everyone elses bags mad the tight connection due to delays between flights at BNE because they had paper tags on their baggage, mine was checked at MEL by checkin agent using the electronic tag, and didn't make the connection. I received my bags 5 hours later.

 

[rechoboam]

Never lost a bag with QF. Has happened with BA and with Rex would you believe Albury MEL.

Only carry on departing for me but will bring a bag home with the OHs shopping. Lots of spare suitcases at home.

 

[oz_mark]

Flew qf459 tonight Sydney to Melbourne, on arrival to Melbourne was paged to attend bagage service, bag left in Sydney.They logged it and gave me the reference details. Checked it online when arrived at the hotel at was on a later flight landing at 21:35, was told if in on the next flight would be sent to the hotel in Melbourne via courier as long as it was before 11pm. They just called the hotel, not my listed mobile number as provided at 10:30 won't leave the airport until 7 am tomorrow.I'm sorry qantas this really isn't good enough, I now need to cancel a 7 am meeting tomorrow and other training , so much for being a gold frequent flyer doing the right thing and checking bagagge and using ngci. In future I'll do what everyone else and just bring overweight carryon....You know virgin really are pushing hard to win my business....I have loyalty and I understand bags get lost, delayed but a least fix it when it arrives...My return trip may very well be my last....

I'm not sure why they do it - but when I have had misconnected baggage, they seem to like to deal with your hotel. Normally, a knock at the door with my luggage!

Arrived at the domestic terminal to be sternly told I was late. And in a none too polite manner. I asked about my bags which resulted in a shrug and told I was lucky to be getting a seat. I thought luggage had to be on the flight with the booked passenger but I'm probably wrong here.

I've had this with their (not so) seamless transfer before. The attitude is either one of don't worry you'll make it, or one of being chided for being late, and can flip from the former to the latter at any point in time.

Arrived BNE. No luggage. Went to the long line at the missing luggage counter to be given a number and website and told to check every few days to see where my luggage was. Five days later my luggage arrived by courier. No ETA given, just a date. The tag on my bag indicated it left SYD 30 mins after I did. Bags arrived in BNE while I was in the missing bags line. Where were my bags for five days? No explanation or apology from QF. Not even the offer of a few bonus points for the inconvenience.

Bloody pathetic.

It seems strange, but one can only think it went on some other adventure after it arriving.

 

[serfty]

Flew qf459 tonight Sydney to Melbourne, on arrival to Melbourne was paged to attend bagage service, bag left in Sydney. ... In future I'll do what everyone else and just bring overweight carryon....

Of course, with Qantas' generous Domestic jet service carry-on allowance it's pretty hard to be overweight as you are permitted 2 x 7kg bags - one can be a suit pack.

The other tip is to never carry in checked luggage anything you will need for "tomorrow's meeting".

IMHO, checking baggage is to be avoided at most reasonable costs.

 

[rkfwombat]

Be thankful they paged you, on several occasions I have had to wait til all the other bags have come out to realise my bags hadn't made it. Go to desk, and they knew about it, didn't bother to page me though.

I don't trust the new tags through bad experience. Everyone elses bags mad the tight connection due to delays between flights at BNE because they had paper tags on their baggage, mine was checked at MEL by checkin agent using the electronic tag, and didn't make the connection. I received my bags 5 hours later.

I can agree with this. I'm not a huge flyer, just hit gold, but I do a large number of canb -> gladstone via bris and sometimes sydney plus a few trips over west. Two seperate staff have told me not to use NGCI as it increases the chance of luggage being lost. I can only speculate that ground crew don't like being "replaced".

Mind you I think I'm cursed. Looking at my most recent 9 return trips via brisbane, I've been put up overnight 5 times because of delayed flights and missed connections. The grand chancellor is anything but grand let me tell you.

In the same time period I've only travelled with checked luggage on seven total one way trips and I've had luggage "lost" and delivered the next day three times.

Upside? Well I've got many many lovely sets of Qantas sponsored lingerie and am developing an odd fascination with imperial leather deoderant...

At what point am I going to get a "sorry mr wombat, have an upgrade"?

 

[UP4014]

In 20 years flying with QF I've only had a bag go missing once, in Adelaide. QF were excellent, they phoned me 3 times per day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) until my bag arrived at my hotel 48 hours later.

I accepted it was not on the plane before I spoke to the lost bag man when it didn't come out on the conveyor, I simply reported it, told them my hotel, said they could look in it to confirm and told them although annoying I accepted this happens and left without worrying about it.

When I told the QF person my phone battery was nearly flat and this would be our last call at the end of the first 24 hours I had a message at my hotel from QF to buy a charger and send in the receipt.

The QF staff member told me they have a 99% find rate on lost bags within 48 hours.

I'm no platinum level flyer either. I was impressed by QF.

Matt

 

[oz_mark]

The QF staff member told me they have a 99% find rate on lost bags within 48 hours.

WHile it was with Air Canada, it is remarkably frustrating to be told that for 4 days. I care about my bag, which hadn't been delivered within 48 hours :!: