Imagine the trauma when you reach your destination through a flight during a festive time and get to know that your luggage is nowhere to be found. And airline officials tell you it will reach in the “coming days”.
Well, it can be pretty tormenting, right? This bitter experience was encountered by several Australian travellers during the long weekend on Easter.
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The people, who were bringing in gifts for their family and friends for the celebration, may now have to just wait for the luggage to arrive.
For the whole mess, the authorities seems to have blamed the busy travel period, Covid isolation orders, staff shortages and the need to ensure the flights don’t get delayed.
I was on flight QF783 MEL- PER 13 April 22. Still no bag and no indication from Qantas when they will arrive. Tracking number Qantas gave me doesn’t work. Total 4 hours on hold yesterday in two phone calls. Spent $925 yesterday on replacing things as couldn’t wait any longer
— Quinn McGuinness (@Q_McGuinness) April 14, 2022
It led to chaotic scenes, which could be witnessed at several airports across Australia. Several passengers reached their destinations without luggage. It may also take days for it to arrive.
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On Friday, a Qantas spokesperson told the Guardian, “Decisions were made to have these flights depart without baggage to ensure that customers could get to their destination and not face long flight delays or cancellations.”
At Brisbane Airport waiting to pick up family. An announcement just told an entire flight from Melbourne not a single piece of luggage was loaded. All their bags will now arrive “in the coming days”. Happy Easter!
— Pippa Bradshaw (@pippabradshaw) April 14, 2022
“We really appreciate people’s patience and understanding, and apologise for the inconvenience,” the spokesperson said.
It seems the luggage will come on later flights and will be sent to the customers by courier.
(With inputs from agencies)