Priority Baggage on DJ

[Princess Fiona]

I wonder if I'm being a little precious or not. I flew with my family on Sat from BNE-NTL on saver fares.
2 Velocity Plats on booking therefore technically 69 x 2 Kg luggage allowance.
We used the Priority Check-in. I thought I detected a bit of disdain from the check-in agent but dismissed it as my imagination.
Had 3 bags to check 23,22,14 kg each. I watched the first bag being tagged. A priority tag was added.
Didn't pay too much attention afterwards. Upon arrival in NTL, 2 bags came out tagged priority immediately. Last bag came out well towards the end of all the other bags and without a priority tag.
I then checked the back of the boarding passes. One bag each on mine and Shrek's, and the straggling bag on the back of little miss Velocity Red's boarding pass.
I'm nearly half way towards re-qualifying Plat but after this unpleasant, petty little episode I wonder if it's worthwhile?
FWIW I have never had baggage tagged without priority on QF ever regardless of status of family members boarding pass.

 

[anat0l]

So..... two of your priority tagged bags came out first, right?

At least that's a good thing. I've heard mixed reports about VA, just like QF. Seems baggage handlers in Australia can't seem to understand the idea of "unload this set of baggage first". Especially if they are containerised, how bl**dy difficult can it be. Perhaps I'm being patronising here...

I'd put this down to oversight, and perhaps a bit of a need for you to be sharper, i.e. if you noticed no priority bag tag on the final bag, nothing wrong in raising it to see if it was a genuine mistake or really procedure (I doubt that any agent - VA or QF - would have any problem with priority tags on all bags within the same itinerary and / or family group).


We all get a bit sour in the mouth when any carrier - QF or VA - doesn't even get priority bags right. Why so sour now when it was something that, IMO, wasn't actually as bad as that?

 

[Princess Fiona]

That was my reason for posting to see if I was/am over-reacting to all bags not being tagged priority as they could/should have been.
I've never really paid too much attention to tagging beyond the first bag as previous experience all bags have been tagged identically.

 

[spreezy]

You are indeed overreacting on a scale of 10/10

 

[dfcatch]

I don't think so.

One bag coming out last is as good as all bags coming out last.

It either works or it doesn't. In this case it didn't work and it warrants feedback.

Without this kind of feedback there won't be any improvement.

Enough to spit the dummy - no, but definitely enough for feedback nonetheless.

 

[JohnM]

I'm amazed that the priority tags made any difference. Can't speak for DJ as I never fly with them but tags don't usually have any recognisable effect on QF in my experience. Actually that's wrong - I've often felt they have the opposite to the claimed effect :mrgreen:.

It's statistically untestable, but if it was QF I'd say it was just a random occurrence .

Don't be precious about it IMHO but check next time that all bags get the tag.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Princess, you have identified a case of class envy. Quite prevalent amongst lower grade operative of LCC's. Retribution must be constant floggings until the attitude improves.

You need to stand over these guys to make sure the job is done right or get the supervisor involved pronto.

 

[serfty]

No, you are not being 'precious'.

So, with three bags the check-in agent assigned on for each of three PAX in the booking including the non-statused mini.

It would not have been rocket science for all three bags to be checked under the auspices of one of the travelling WP. I would be putting in a complaint to DJ, thus giving them the opportunity to re-educate the check-in agent.

To be fair, I have had this happen with Qantas back last century. If checking bags these days I ensure as much of it as possible is shadowed by status. I don't leave it to the check-in agents' whim.

 

[dfcatch]

No, you are not being 'precious'.

So, with three bags the check-in agent assigned on for each of three PAX in the booking including the non-statused mini.

It would not have been rocket science for all three bags to be checked under the auspices of one of the travelling WP. I would be putting in a complaint to DJ, thus giving them the opportunity to re-educate the check-in agent.

To be fair, I have had this happen with Qantas back last century. If checking bags these days I ensure as much of it as possible is shadowed by status. I don't leave it to the check-in agents' whim.

Yes - good advice to follow.

When traveling with friends (and I know the contents of the bags), I check the bags in under myself.

You must be explicit with the agent.

I have found 100% success (on airlines that actually deliver priority baggage such as AA or AC).

On QF, I still try it but if landing in MEL don't expect to see my bags in anything but a late random order.

 

[leemin]

I think you got a bad check-in agent.

When I flew back from Newcastle with my pop and Aunty, we had three bags. I'm the only one with status.

Agent: "How many bags are you checking?"
Me: "Three. Two with me and one under [Aunty]"
A: "What I'll do is pop them all under your name so I can priority tag them all"
M: "Oh. Great, thanks very much".

That was with about 45kg baggage when as gold I only had my 32kg and my aunty had the normal 23kg allowance.


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[Princess Fiona]

Hi jlm,
This is exactly what happened ex-NTL and our 3 bags were first on the carousel at BNE.
I rather foolishly assumed that it would also happen on the return journey.
As all 3 bags combined weighed under the luggage allowance for one Plat passenger I thought it would be logical as per Serfty to check them all under one of the status passengers (and perhaps a few less keystrokes ? )
I also think that in my limited experience so far DJ's priority baggage does seem to work effectively, however as dfcatch says it only works if all bags are together.
I will provide feedback to DJ on my experience.
Not a deal breaker, not sour but certainly a sub-optimal customer experience.

 

[straitman]

Hi jlm,
This is exactly what happened ex-NTL and our 3 bags were first on the carousel at BNE.
I rather foolishly assumed that it would also happen on the return journey.
As all 3 bags combined weighed under the luggage allowance for one Plat passenger I thought it would be logical as per Serfty to check them all under one of the status passengers (and perhaps a few less keystrokes ? )
I also think that in my limited experience so far DJ's priority baggage does seem to work effectively, however as dfcatch says it only works if all bags are together.
I will provide feedback to DJ on my experience.
Not a deal breaker, not sour but certainly a sub-optimal customer experience.

Princess Fiona,

I'm sure you'll get over it quickly.

This is a wakeup call to all of us though to keep an eye on these things. I've had this happen on QF also when I was not paying attention.

 

[drron]

Well I am up to here with the QF priority tags.:evil:.i get them on my MEL-DPO flights and they dont come out first at all!
Of course at DPO the trolleys are brought into the shed and you have to get your own bag.:shock::shock:
I just feel it funny that they continually label my luggage priority and there is no way it can be.
But Princess what you describe is a reason to continue with VA-when have your priority tagged bags ever come out first on QF.My last flight LAX-BNE they were virtually last from a full 744.
So not being precious-just a beautiful Princess!

 

[loobloke]

I watched priority baggage from the MEL lounge a few weeks ago ... for like 4 hours as my flight was delayed 2 hours.

The handlers leave all the tagged bags on the ground when they are loading (chucking) all the bags onto the aircraft then put the priority bags in last. Saw them do it for all three flights that left from the gate closest to the tarmac viewing area. There was about half a dozen on average each flight.

 

[JohnM]

I watched priority baggage from the MEL lounge a few weeks ago ... for like 4 hours as my flight was delayed 2 hours.

The handlers leave all the tagged bags on the ground when they are loading (chucking) all the bags onto the aircraft then put the priority bags in last. Saw them do it for all three flights that left from the gate closest to the tarmac viewing area. There was about half a dozen on average each flight.

Hmmm, if they do that at QF then someone at the other end is almost always stuffing up their nice loading system :evil:.