Virgin Captain ill and baggage woes

[aupirate]

I was on a VA flight BNE to ADL on Sunday 12th May, 20 minutes after departure the aircraft stopped climbing and commenced a gentle turn back towards Brisbane. Soon after the 1st officer came on and said that the Captain was ill and the aircraft had to return to BNE. To cut a long story short after a 1 1/2 hour delay we were on our way again, 10 points to Virgin. We were kept informed throughout the delay and were able to re board the same aircraft with the same seating etc. Unfortunately due to the delay I only just made my connection on REX to Kingscote. My rather large and heavy (30 kg) bag didn`t make the connection, no problem I`m working at the Kingscote airfield so duly collected my bag the next morning. Unfortunately on collection I find that my brand new Dakine roller bag has had 1 wheel completely smashed off, the wheel housing has been completely smashed. This bag I put a lot of research into before I purchased, and yes it`s a well built fairly bullet proof bag. Question is, who can I blame, REX or Virgin, as it was collected by REX ground staff I have no way of knowing where and when the damaged occurred. I suspect the damage was deliberate due to the bag being heavy, although within the legal requirement as it was brand new and therefore in perfect condition. Any advice thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[straitman]

I was on a VA flight BNE to ADL on Sunday 12th May, 20 minutes after departure the aircraft stopped climbing and commenced a gentle turn back towards Brisbane. Soon after the 1st officer came on and said that the Captain was ill and the aircraft had to return to BNE. To cut a long story short after a 1 1/2 hour delay we were on our way again, 10 points to Virgin. We were kept informed throughout the delay and were able to re board the same aircraft with the same seating etc. Unfortunately due to the delay I only just made my connection on REX to Kingscote. My rather large and heavy (30 kg) bag didn`t make the connection, no problem I`m working at the Kingscote airfield so duly collected my bag the next morning. Unfortunately on collection I find that my brand new Dakine roller bag has had 1 wheel completely smashed off, the wheel housing has been completely smashed. This bag I put a lot of research into before I purchased, and yes it`s a well built fairly bullet proof bag. Question is, who can I blame, REX or Virgin, as it was collected by REX ground staff I have no way of knowing where and when the damaged occurred. I suspect the damage was deliberate due to the bag being heavy, although within the legal requirement as it was brand new and therefore in perfect condition. Any advice thoughts would be appreciated.

The experts will pipe in quickly enough but I believe it comes back to REX.

I hope you notified them before you left the airport.

 

[AIRwin]

Were your flights booked separately or under the same ticket? I hope you have reported the damage to Rex when you collected it (given that there are reporting time limits):
Before You Fly :: Conditions of Carriage
Delayed and damaged baggage information | Virgin Australia

 

[mannej]

I too believe it is the last carrier to foot the blame (hence the move away from a lot of interlining of yesterday).

I would have made sure the ground staff were notified before you left the airport.

 

[JohnPhelan]

I suspect the damage was deliberate due to the bag being heavy, although within the legal requirement as it was brand new and therefore in perfect condition.

Why would you think it was deliberate? Perhaps - given that it was brand new - there was a fault that didn't show itself until the bag was under operational pressure. You think the baggage handlers wanted to penalise you for having a heavy bag? Really??

 

[jetlagger]

As a side note..
I believe the Dakine bags are well constructed.
Though damage does happen to the best of luggage.
Interested to hear the outcome of this.
Cheers,
jl

 

[aupirate]

Why would you think it was deliberate? Perhaps - given that it was brand new - there was a fault that didn't show itself until the bag was under operational pressure. You think the baggage handlers wanted to penalise you for having a heavy bag? Really??

It`s just a feeling I have, as Jetlagger states "Dakine are well constructed" the bag was on it`s first outing and therefore in perfect condition. I`m on first name terms with the REX staff at the airport as I`m working on a small solar project there and they were aware on the day of the damage. I had also taken out REX insurance just in case I missed my connection (which I nearly did as it happens). So I will have a look through their T & C`s.

 

[MarkD]

Im kind of wondering what the crook captain had to do with the story?

 

[aupirate]

Im kind of wondering what the crook captain had to do with the story?

The story was about the days travel including the incident with the captain, the damaged bag part of the story sort of took over, maybe they were short of baggage handlers in Brisbane and he had a crook back after lifting my bag?

 

[N860CR]

I believe you have to put the claim in with Virgin as it was them who accepted the bag for travel. If ZL need to get involved, VA should deal with them.