Priority luggage, enough is enough.

[ajw373]

Maybe we should run our own little test on the effectiveness of the Q tags over printed tags. If you're travelling with two bags, apply the Q tag to one and put a thermal printed tag on the other (without adding any of the 'Business' or 'Priority' tags). Then at the other end, wait at the carousel and count.

Bit hard to do that (not apply priority or business tags) because domesticity Qantas now prints the priority on the tags themselves.

My most recent experiance was SYD-CBR on QF787 2 weeks ago in J. Maybe 50 people waiting for bags. I Used Q tags my bags and both my bags were in the first 20 or so bags out so not too bad. Much better than the night before arriving on MH from KUL, one bag was one of the very first out, my second bag almost dead last.

 

[jono88888]

Was on the last SYD-PER flight on Sunday evening which was delayed 2.5 hours. Despite being WP and flying business, my bag was one of the last ones out. By which time there was a huge taxi queue and because of the lateness in the day, very few taxis. Not happy. It was 3am Sydney time by the time we landed and the last thing I wanted was an additional 30 minutes waiting for a taxi.

On the other hand on the return leg on Wednesday (which coincidentally also had a 2.5 hour delay), by the time I had walked to the carousel my bag was already there.

Whilst I find my bags usually come off before my colleagues who are PG, at the end of the day it's still somewhat of a lottery. Both flights were eventually flown on replacement planes, I don't know if that added to the randomness of the the bags coming out.

 

[Danger]

Bit hard to do that (not apply priority or business tags) because domesticity Qantas now prints the priority on the tags themselves.

No, sorry. Perhaps I wasn't clear. I meant a test between the Q tags and the thermal tags. A number of members are of the view that the thermal tags are far more effective in delivery priority luggage. So that was the test I was thinking of.

 

[ajw373]

No, sorry. Perhaps I wasn't clear. I meant a test between the Q tags and the thermal tags. A number of members are of the view that the thermal tags are far more effective in delivery priority luggage. So that was the test I was thinking of.

I realise that, but you did say thermal tags WITHOUT priority tags. Just pointing out the priority is now printed on the tags and the only time I have had any added recently is when I have an international connection.

 

[ReLoad]

I most certainly have, and exactly as per previous times I expect to get a generic response.

FYI nothing back from QF, not even a bog standard generic response. At what point does the waiting stop and another e-mail sent off?

 

[ReLoad]

I followed up with Red Roo today via PM, who had chased up a response for me.

Here's what came back from QF, this is the second time I have complained about the same thing, and I don't feel satisfied with the answer, am I being pedantic and silly?





Dear ReLoad,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and please accept our apologies for the delay in response.

I was disappointed to learn about your delayed luggage at Brisbane airport. I understand the frustration and stress you would have experienced.
Please accept our apologies that you have not received the premium level of service expected of Qantas.
We go to great lengths to take care of each piece of luggage especially if the bag has a priority tag on it. We aim to have your bag available as soon as you arrive at your destination.
I have told our Airport Manager about your unhappy experience and I know our team there are doing everything possible to avoid this kind of delay in the future.
I would again like to apologise for disappointing you and thank you for bringing this to our attention. I do hope we have the opportunity to welcome you aboard Qantas again soon.

Yours sincerely

xx_
Customer Care

 

[RooFlyer]

I followed up with Red Roo today via PM, who had chased up a response for me.

Here's what came back from QF, this is the second time I have complained about the same thing, and I don't feel satisfied with the answer, am I being pedantic and silly?

Dear ReLoad,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and please accept our apologies for the delay in response.

I was disappointed to learn about your delayed luggage at Brisbane airport. I understand the frustration and stress you would have experienced.
Please accept our apologies that you have not received the premium level of service expected of Qantas.
We go to great lengths to take care of each piece of luggage especially if the bag has a priority tag on it. We aim to have your bag available as soon as you arrive at your destination.
I have told our Airport Manager about your unhappy experience and I know our team there are doing everything possible to avoid this kind of delay in the future.
I would again like to apologise for disappointing you and thank you for bringing this to our attention. I do hope we have the opportunity to welcome you aboard Qantas again soon.

Yours sincerely

xx_
Customer Care

The bad thing is that QF management may actually belive this tripe. I'd be surprised if any but a minority in this FF forum believe that 'priority luggage' is anything but a joke.

I wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. if you have a dialogue with them, might be interesting what metrics they use to track that 'priority luggage' is actually working as they say/think.

 

[jetlagger]

I followed up with Red Roo today via PM, who had chased up a response for me.

Here's what came back from QF, this is the second time I have complained about the same thing, and I don't feel satisfied with the answer, am I being pedantic and silly?





Dear ReLoad,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and please accept our apologies for the delay in response.

I was disappointed to learn about your delayed luggage at Brisbane airport. I understand the frustration and stress you would have experienced.
Please accept our apologies that you have not received the premium level of service expected of Qantas.
We go to great lengths to take care of each piece of luggage especially if the bag has a priority tag on it. We aim to have your bag available as soon as you arrive at your destination.
I have told our Airport Manager about your unhappy experience and I know our team there are doing everything possible to avoid this kind of delay in the future.
I would again like to apologise for disappointing you and thank you for bringing this to our attention. I do hope we have the opportunity to welcome you aboard Qantas again soon.

Yours sincerely

xx_
Customer Care

Seems very standardised wording & the evaluation of such incidents... Prevention is always better than Cure!

 

[ReLoad]

To close off the case;
I responded back to QF Customer care in regards to that I have complained about this before and that the standard response isn't acceptable.

I received an E-mail from QF customer care today crediting me with some QFF points.

Overall, im very satisfied with the response from QF with the compensation being more than adequate.
Whilst I doubt they can/will fix Priority luggage issues, its nice to know that a big airline can say sorry and compensate accordingly.

To Red Roo and the QF customer care team, thank you. - You are back on the Christmas card list

 

[macrop]

Not that I can be bothered complaining to Qantas about this but since Saturday I've flown a few times and not once did my bags have any prioty tags placed on them. I left my Qtags on my old bag at home so I have checked-in in the transitional way at PER and BNE. I fail to see how priority baggage can work with Qtags anyway. Just checked in at DRW earlier and no tag was placed then either. Got 4 more flights over the next two days so we'll see what happens but I'm not hopeful. Standing around for a few extra minutes doesn't bother me normally though I understand that some appreciate it because of getting to Taxi ranks earlier and such.

 

[Mr_Orange]

I've had a couple of flights where priority baggage has not worked, but recently I have had 3 flights in 7 days where it has not worked.

CHC-SYD last week;
CHC-SYD this week; and
SYD-BNE this week.

It's really annoying on the CHC-SYD leg as I have a Dom connection from SYD and once the queues build up in SYD Int customs they just open up Express Path to everybody and I get stuck in all the queues.

Red Roo, how hard is it for an item of luggage tagged Business/Priority to be put into the correct bin on the aircraft?

 

[straitman]

I've had a couple of flights where priority baggage has not worked, but recently I have had 3 flights in 7 days where it has not worked.

CHC-SYD last week;
CHC-SYD this week; and
SYD-BNE this week.

It's really annoying on the CHC-SYD leg as I have a Dom connection from SYD and once the queues build up in SYD Int customs they just open up Express Path to everybody and I get stuck in all the queues.

Red Roo, how hard is it for an item of luggage tagged Business/Priority to be put into the correct bin on the aircraft?

From my experience this is one area that VA seem to have it all over QF since they introduced the drink coasters :!:

 

[Mr_Orange]

From my experience this is one area that VA seem to have it all over QF since they introduced the drink coasters :!:

I'm not sure this down to the coasters as I was flying internationally so had a paper tag, complete with the blue Emirates business tag!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

happy to report first class luggage on carousel in SYD the other morning within 7 minutes of pulling up at the gate? (first off plane, no duty free shopping, straight through e-passport channel and bag already on carousel).

so it can be done!!

(actually full marks to sydney airport... I was processed and out (including declaring three categories of items and having to stop and pay duty) in 29 minutes from seat-belt sign off!)​

 

[Danger]

happy to report first class luggage on carousel in SYD the other morning within 7 minutes of pulling up at the gate? (first off plane, no duty free shopping, straight through e-passport channel and bag already on carousel).

so it can be done!!

(actually full marks to sydney airport... I was processed and out (including declaring three categories of items and having to stop and pay duty) in 29 minutes from seat-belt sign off!)​

But is it a case of 'it can be done' or 'it can just happen that way'?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But is it a case of 'it can be done' or 'it can just happen that way'?

Maybe i got the day when CEO of Airline ABC was touring SYD airport and everything had to be in perfect order

 

[Mr_Orange]

happy to report first class luggage on carousel in SYD the other morning within 7 minutes of pulling up at the gate? (first off plane, no duty free shopping, straight through e-passport channel and bag already on carousel).

so it can be done!!

(actually full marks to sydney airport... I was processed and out (including declaring three categories of items and having to stop and pay duty) in 29 minutes from seat-belt sign off!)​

Lucky you! I have sent feedback to QF via the online channel, but I am hoping Red Roo picks this up too. If (s)he doesn't I will PM .

 

[kempvet]

As long as my bags come out among the first bags long haul overseas or mainland USA, and the attendants sometimes have them nicely stacked for me, I don't really care what happens in Australia, but then, my final destination is Port Macquarie most of the time, bags on a small trolley, so hard to get priority there.

 

[pauly7]

From my experience this is one area that VA seem to have it all over QF since they introduced the drink coasters :!:

This is in contrast to my experience - I've had really patchy priority luggage service on both VA and QF domestic though QF has improved for me since NGCI kicked in.

QF internationally seems to work really well for me but I've stopped flying VA internationally altogether these days due to a couple of unfortunate incidents...

 

[Danger]

Yesterday I flew CBR-xMEL-PER with my CL polly, him in J and me in Y on the same flights. We checked in at the Q Card reader then put our bags through ourselves. The sequence number on our boarding passes (they are printed by the CL host) showed that we checked in one after the other. I'd say my bag was sent down the bag at most three minutes before his.

In Perth, mine was about the 7th one out. The polly's took five to seven minutes.

I've never known priority baggage to work properly. When it does happen my inclination is to think it's purely by accident.