I'm a musician, and I've come to rely on the privileges of Platinum status to make touring travel workable, specifically in terms of the extra baggage allowance and general customer service. Recently, I flew JFK - SYD, and then connected through to CAN on a Dash 8 Qantaslink service, and in connecting to the CAN flight, I had a pretty terrible experience of both.
I was carrying some fragile studio gear as carry-on luggage on the JFK - SYD flight, packed in a Pelican case. When I landed in SYD and went to the domestic transfer section at T1 to drop off my other checked luggage for the domestic connection, the lady asked to weigh the Pelican case, and it was 14kg, so she told me I would have to check it in. I said I'd planned on Premium Hand Luggage for the item, but I was told that that wouldn't be possible because only items that satisfied the carry-on baggage requirements (i.e. 7kg or lighter) were eligible for Premium Hand Luggage. I let her know I was Platinum, and I pointed out that the equipment in the case was fragile audio equipment, and so I was keen to avoid it being handled as regular checked luggage (being loaded onto luggage carousels etc. would be avoided with Premium Hand Luggage), but she would have none of it, the only option was to check the Pelican case. She also (ludicrously) suggested that if the equipment was fragile then I should have freighted it. I ended up repacking some especially shock-sensitive items from the Pelican case to my backpack and checking the Pelican case in as fragile luggage (dropped off at oversized luggage for special handling), but that didn't stop me from seeing it being handled roughly while being loaded onto the conveyor belt as I boarded the flight.
The ridiculous thing is that my backpack was already 7kg before I repacked those extra items into it (she insisted on weighing the backpack too), so after repacking those items my backpack was also now over the carry-on weight limit, but that particular nuance of the situation seemed to escape her, so in the end she succeeded in letting a passenger take on an overweight piece of hand luggage anyway... so what exactly was achieved in the end?
Over & above the stupidity of this particular situation, the wider issue is that there's no consistency with the way Qantas treats fragile luggage when it comes to touring musicians. Previously, Platinum status alone has been enough to avoid any issues with hand luggage situations like this, but Platinum status no longer has that kind of sway evidently. I've also previously travelled on certain bookings with the extra allowance Qantas allows for musicians (http://www.amin.org.au/wp-content/u...tas-Carriage-of-Musical-Instrument-Policy.pdf), and unfortunately I did not actually contact Qantas to invoke the allowance for this particular booking, because in this situation I needed to take the gear as hand luggage, due to its fragility.
But even in previous instances where I have used the musicians allowance, it's often the case that the people behind the counter are unfamiliar with it, and there are a huge inconsistencies in how it is applied in different airports. I've had some airports claim that gear cases below a certain size must be sent down the regular luggage belts and cannot be checked in for special handling at the oversized luggage counter, whereas other airports will allow you to check in whatever you like at oversized luggage, so that it can be handled appropriately.
I think Qantas' policy and thinking relating to musical instruments needs to be expanded to include these considerations. Travelling musicians often don't just need extra checked-in baggage allowance, they also need their fragile gear to be handled appropriately, and that includes extra flexibility to take certain pieces as carry-on and/or Premium Hand Luggage to ensure the best possible chances of avoiding damage.
I was carrying some fragile studio gear as carry-on luggage on the JFK - SYD flight, packed in a Pelican case. When I landed in SYD and went to the domestic transfer section at T1 to drop off my other checked luggage for the domestic connection, the lady asked to weigh the Pelican case, and it was 14kg, so she told me I would have to check it in. I said I'd planned on Premium Hand Luggage for the item, but I was told that that wouldn't be possible because only items that satisfied the carry-on baggage requirements (i.e. 7kg or lighter) were eligible for Premium Hand Luggage. I let her know I was Platinum, and I pointed out that the equipment in the case was fragile audio equipment, and so I was keen to avoid it being handled as regular checked luggage (being loaded onto luggage carousels etc. would be avoided with Premium Hand Luggage), but she would have none of it, the only option was to check the Pelican case. She also (ludicrously) suggested that if the equipment was fragile then I should have freighted it. I ended up repacking some especially shock-sensitive items from the Pelican case to my backpack and checking the Pelican case in as fragile luggage (dropped off at oversized luggage for special handling), but that didn't stop me from seeing it being handled roughly while being loaded onto the conveyor belt as I boarded the flight.
The ridiculous thing is that my backpack was already 7kg before I repacked those extra items into it (she insisted on weighing the backpack too), so after repacking those items my backpack was also now over the carry-on weight limit, but that particular nuance of the situation seemed to escape her, so in the end she succeeded in letting a passenger take on an overweight piece of hand luggage anyway... so what exactly was achieved in the end?
Over & above the stupidity of this particular situation, the wider issue is that there's no consistency with the way Qantas treats fragile luggage when it comes to touring musicians. Previously, Platinum status alone has been enough to avoid any issues with hand luggage situations like this, but Platinum status no longer has that kind of sway evidently. I've also previously travelled on certain bookings with the extra allowance Qantas allows for musicians (http://www.amin.org.au/wp-content/u...tas-Carriage-of-Musical-Instrument-Policy.pdf), and unfortunately I did not actually contact Qantas to invoke the allowance for this particular booking, because in this situation I needed to take the gear as hand luggage, due to its fragility.
But even in previous instances where I have used the musicians allowance, it's often the case that the people behind the counter are unfamiliar with it, and there are a huge inconsistencies in how it is applied in different airports. I've had some airports claim that gear cases below a certain size must be sent down the regular luggage belts and cannot be checked in for special handling at the oversized luggage counter, whereas other airports will allow you to check in whatever you like at oversized luggage, so that it can be handled appropriately.
I think Qantas' policy and thinking relating to musical instruments needs to be expanded to include these considerations. Travelling musicians often don't just need extra checked-in baggage allowance, they also need their fragile gear to be handled appropriately, and that includes extra flexibility to take certain pieces as carry-on and/or Premium Hand Luggage to ensure the best possible chances of avoiding damage.
