Early check in of luggage Jetstar

[auspal]

We recently arrived at Jetstar check in counter at Sydney domestic airport very early ( four hours before our flight). The check in counters were open , so I thought we would be able to check our luggage in and then go through to the food court area. ( Was hoping for the Qantas lounge as we have access , but that was in a totally different part of the airport). We were not allowed to check in our two cases for the flight, and had to sit at a small kiosk area for two hours, before they would let us check in. Can anyone explain what the reason for this is please ? Just so we know for the future ( not that I think we will ever fly Jetstar again).

 

[Austman]

It's been that way for years.

My guess is that it's a cost saving measure. They don't have to "store" luggage until 2 hours before a flight.

 

[aikman]

Isn't the bag check in process self service? For future reference, which part can't you do early - printing the bag tags at the kiosk or sending the bags down the ramp?

 

[auspal]

We were told that we couldnt use the self service check in, and bag drop till two hours before the flight. That would have been a great option if possible. As soon as we approached the check in area we were asked which flight we were on by a jetstar staff member.

 

[auspal]

It's been that way for years.

My guess is that it's a cost saving measure. They don't have to "store" luggage until 2 hours before a flight.

I was wondering if this might be the case ? If that is so, I wont be happy. But just thought I would ask the question to make sure

 

[Franky]

We were told that we couldnt use the self service check in, and bag drop till two hours before the flight. That would have been a great option if possible. As soon as we approached the check in area we were asked which flight we were on by a jetstar staff member.

What ’costs’ would be levied to push them down the chute?

 

[auspal]

What ’costs’ would be levied to push them down the chute?

None that I am aware of. But just told we were not allowed.

 

[AIRwin]

Lounge costs?

 

[Austman]

Isn't the bag check in process self service? For future reference, which part can't you do early - printing the bag tags at the kiosk or sending the bags down the ramp?

You can print the label and attach it to your bags but the baggage drop machine will reject the bag and send it back to you if it's more than 2 hours before your flight.

What ’costs’ would be levied to push them down the chute?

Airport baggage handling costs. The bags have to be stored somewhere ...

 

[auspal]

Lounge costs?

There was only a Virgin lounge in that terminal, and no-one would have been aware that we could access the Qantas lounge, which was in a completely different part of the airport.

 

[Austman]

and no-one would have been aware that we could access the Qantas lounge, which was in a completely different part of the airport.

That's SYD and MEL. And many are fully aware. But in many other airports JQ and QF use the same terminal.

 

[auspal]

It's been that way for years.

My guess is that it's a cost saving measure. They don't have to "store" luggage until 2 hours before a flight.

Does this also apply to Qantas ?

 

[eric2011]

Does this also apply to Qantas ?

No, I think check-in opens 4 hours before

 

[Franky]

You can print the label and attach it to your bags but the baggage drop machine will reject the bag and send it back to you if it's more than 2 hours before your flight.




Airport baggage handling costs. The bags have to be stored somewhere ...

I'm probably a bit slow on the uptake, but that indicates to me that baggage storage once the bag goes down the chute is on an hourly basis. If not, could someone please spell it out to me. And I wouldnt call it being 'stored' when it is sitting in the baggage area waiting to be loaded on to an aircraft.

 

[auspal]

No, I think check-in opens 4 hours before

If someone can confirm this, that would be great

 

[Austman]

And I wouldnt call it being 'stored' when it is sitting in the baggage area waiting to be loaded on to an aircraft.

That doesn't really matter if airports and airlines disagree. Checked bags have to be (a) handled with (b) an area opened up to handle them.

JQ domestic has it at 2 hours for all flights.

QF domestic can vary a bit I think.

Internationally at MEL no arline can accept a bag before 3 hours unless it's an A380 in which case it's 4 hours.

 

[wandering_fred]

Oh the good old days. In Singapore with 3K (aka Jetstar)
Able to use the kiosks the morning of an evening flight...... And drop off the bag
When we were able to be wandering
Fred

 

[Franky]

That doesn't really matter if airports and airlines disagree. Checked bags have to be (a) handled with (b) an area opened up to handle them.

JQ domestic has it at 2 hours for all flights.

QF domestic can vary a bit I think.

Internationally at MEL no arline can accept a bag before 3 hours unless it's an A380 in which case it's 4 hours.

Thanks, I get the timing bit, but not the costs...

 

[madrooster]

Does this also apply to Qantas ?

No, I think check-in opens 4 hours before

QF is 6 hours at all major ports where QF domestic check in is open all day. It can be as short as 90 mins before departure for many regional ports. JQ is 2 hours. SYD T2 is a particular issue as there's limited baggage make up space downstairs.

 

[33kft]

Most of us can only merely speculate at the commercial contracts between airlines and airports, but most of us have used airport parking.

I would suspect there would be parallels between the two - IE the airports are able to tier services to airlines just as they do parking

No way is QF paying what JQ is paying for most categories of airport services. In fact most are in separate terminals with different amenities (QF more premium).

Does the LCC terminal even have the capacity of the mainline terminals? And if for arguments sake they happened to share a terminal, does it mean JQ's share of the holding capacity is the same as QF's?

We don't regularly get to see how the sausage is made but they may legitimately be rationing a finite resource.