Abhi

This is my personal experience with Quantas on 24/03/2006 when I was travelling back from Sydney to Singapore on Qantas Flight departing at 16:25
after my Visa validation trip

I reached the Sydney International Airport, at 1.15 in the afternoon to avoid the rush and to my surprise I found that there was already a long Q. I reached the check-in counter at 3.30 PM, the lady at the check-in desk refused to take my luggage as one of my baggage was 32.5kgs( 0.5 kg above the standard luggage limits), she asked me to unpack the extra 0.5kg into a different bag and comeback again. After that again I had to check in my sons stroller seperately

After I had done that and by the time the tickets, were issued, it was 4.10PM and clearing the customs took another 10 minutes(people at the customs very very quick to see off the people fast)

Then I get into hand baggage x-ray where I had not removed my laptop from my hand baggage, I had to get the hand baggage rescanned without my laptop. Now it is 4.25 Pm and the time when the flight should have taken off..

I dashed off to the Quantas guy asking him to hold the flight for another few minutes, so that I can catch the flight,meanwhile I hear Qantas people paging for a couple of other passengers who have not yet boarded the flight, later I heard that couple of others to faced the same issue,
we rushed to the flight after another 10 minutes as the flight was docked at C23 which is the last docking point,we were totally exhausted (with my wife and 1.5 year old kid)
Trust me, I could not talk for a few minutes due to this running. This is part one

Part 2 unfolds in Singapore to my surprise I find that my baggage has not arrived, when I land in Singapore and the Singapore baggage handling people were kind enough to help me in the moment of need

It all started with the B*, at the luggage check-in counter who delayed my whole schedule, made us run like hell, and almost ruined my trip.

With the whole episode, I just want to warn the others who will be flying with Qantas from Sydney, about this issue to take sufficient care to see that the same problem is not repeated

Whom should I contact to formally lodge a complaint about the ground staff who behave illogically and whose intention is to just trouble the people, and how can I know if some action is taken, to see that such incidents do not happen in the future

I have decided that I would never in my life fly Qantas again

Luma

You could try email customer care at Quantas - here's the link:
http://www.qantas.com.au/needhelp/dyn/contacts/index

JackTheLad

Sorry to hear about your experience but I don't think it was all the check-in staff's fault.

You can complain about the check-in counters being slow in general but you can't complain about the staff refusing to check in your luggage.

Airlines are very strict with the maximum weight of each piece of checked-in luggage because of insurance. If the baggage handling staff got injured while loading or unloading your luggage, the check-in lady and the airline would have been liable.

You're right in warning people though - never pack any one piece of luggage above 32kg.

Mrs JTL

Buzzy--Bee

Its very hard though as bathroom scales aren't as accurate as the machines they use at check-in. I've been caught out before when I though I was all right!

Cheers

Buzzy

Abhi

Thanks,
I have logded a complaint, I will provide the feedback from the customer response team,as I recieve it

Clippy

I can't believe it took 2 hours and 15 minutes to get down the queue at the check in desk?!?!

DunRoaminTheUK

Our experience leaving Sydney was our only "blip" and it also happened at the airport.

When we checked in for our Cathay flight the guy behind the check-in desk (he looked about 18 and hung-over from the Friday night before) really oozed with a "I don't give a shit" attitude. We told him that we were stopping-over in Hong Kong again (as we did when flying from LHR to HKG) and it seems that I might as well have said "Hey, check our baggage through to London, because then we will be screwed without our stuff for 24 hours in HK" as this is exactly what he did.

We ended up waiting over 2 hours in the baggage hall in HKG airport as this tosser had simply decided to not listen and generally behave unprofessionally. They had to locate our luggage in the hold before it jetted off to London without us. Our baby boy was so tired and hungry by the time that we got to the hotel that he wouldn't stop crying for 2 hours. It became a very unpleasant experience for all concerned. What we couldn't understand is that the check-in staff at Heathrow had no problem transitting our luggage but I guess at the end of the day it shows that it's not a national trait or even company trait but rather an inidividual trait. It could have just as easily happened leaving London.

chris and farideh

10 years ago we had the same exprince with Qantas, but I thought how kind of them to offer us an alternative, rather than charge us extra, which they were in their right.
I'm sorry, how is it their fault if you over packed your suitcase, you did know what the weight limit was?
I guess you have got your luggage now, Have you tried to go to USA recently, because you have to be at the airport at least 5 or 6 hours early,2 to 3 hours queuing just to check in. I guess you were at fault too, now days everybody know to be well early for international flight, because of all the checks they have to do.

Abhi

It is very difficult to pack the baggages according to the prescribed 32kg limit, especially when you are travelling abroad - in the absence of the weighing scale and I think I should have been given a fair deal intead of asking to repack just at the expense of 0.4 kg ( to be precise)
Dont you think that would be fair

Abhi

I totally agree with you DunRoaminTheUK
We also had a stop over at Singapore for 3 days, and for total 1.5 days we were without any fresh clothes. My kids formula milk powder was checked into the check-in baggage as we have retrieved enough for a couple of feeds,
Landing at Singapore, for the first time, it was difficult locating a store which sells formula milk powder at 12 in the midnight, finally we went to Mustafa shopping center at 1 AM to purchase the necessary, after checking in the hotel
Had we been atleast informed by the ground staff, that there is a possibility of the baggage not coming through our flight, we would have taken enough precautions....

Abhi

Also forgot to mention in the post that today,
when I was taking off from Singapore today morning at 7 AM (Singapore time) I had found that I had again over packed my baggage by an extra 6.5 kgs and the staff at the Singapore Changi Airport accepted the baggage without any fuss ..

chris and farideh

I understand what you are saying, its the same for most people who do international flight they dont have scale, but they offered you to take some stuff out, so would you say they were fair.
or would you have paid extra?

DunRoaminTheUK

I think that a lot of this is relative to a combination of airport and carrier.

When we left LHR we were 3.5 K's over the limit. When we left Sydney to return we were still over by at least 2-3 K's, but we were travelling with Cathay and not Qantas.

Cathay actually informed us on the phone (before travelling to Australia) that normal practice is to scrutinise any baggage that is 6K's+ over the limit, which did surprise me actually. Again, it could also be dependent on the flight and just how full it is. A full flight will give rise to much more critical concern over take-off weight.

Abhi

I was well with in my limits for the total baggage allowance, but only one bag ahd 0.4kgs extra, for which I was asked to repack --- It is totally unfair, at the nth minute for them to ask us to do this. I have no problems doing it if I have atleast 1 hour before the departure, but would not do the same when the flight is about to leave in 15 minutes, and I sense the danger of missing my flight

chris and farideh

I agree with you there about flight being full, or empty, as it happened recently whenone of my friends was doing internatial flight with her daughter and she was about a few kilo's over the limit, she knew she was, and they wouldnt even give her the option of taking some stuff out and use it as hand luggage.
this is what she did, she opened her suitcase, and put 3 jumpers on, got her daughter put some extra jumpers on, carried two coat on her arm.
she took her stuff on the plane but she was roasting.