Saturated baggage - but Virgin won't own it

[Saab34]

The press would pick this story up, go via them you will likely get a resolution. See the below, the journalist calls out an email if anyone has any similar stories.

I had a blue with Jetstar a while back. They screwed me over and I was financially worse off. I advised one media outlet picked up my story and was going to run with it. I had the Jetstar communications team on the phone that afternoon, and compensation in my account that evening.

Virgin Australia passenger's travel nightmare renews push for major change - Yahoo News Australia

The airline passenger is not the first to begrudgingly navigate the 'laborious' process for compensation.

au.news.yahoo.com

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The press would pick this story up, go via them you will likely get a resolution. See the below, the journalist calls out an email if anyone has any similar stories.

I had a blue with Jetstar a while back. They screwed me over and I was financially worse off. I advised one media outlet picked up my story and was going to run with it. I had the Jetstar communications team on the phone that afternoon, and compensation in my account that evening.

Virgin Australia passenger's travel nightmare renews push for major change - Yahoo News Australia

The airline passenger is not the first to begrudgingly navigate the 'laborious' process for compensation.

au.news.yahoo.com

Brilliant! Good suggestion and there’s momentum for another story given the one you just posted!

 

[ozstamps]

After persisting, Mark was initially offered $75 compensation for his inconvenience. He believed it was a throwaway attempt from Virgin Australia to get him to drop his claim. However, since his suitcase cost him $219, he faced the possibility of paying the rest of the money for a replacement.

"The bare minimum is you expect to just get your bag back working. When it comes back unusable you just think to yourself, well, this is what I paid for... if you crash someone's car, you need to pay for it," he said. "My ideal outcome is that they replace the case... but it seems they've just graded it as a minor dent."

It is understood Mark has now been offered the full compensation of $219 after Yahoo News reached out to the airline.


Well done yahoo news -- appalling that Virgin needs to be media contacted to sort such issues.

A cart left out in heavy torrential rain is totally unacceptable at a major domestic station.

 

[moa999]

Personally always seen this as a risk from soft-sided luggage, albeit with less risk of general damage than hard sided.

And when a lightning alarm goes off at an airport OH&S is rightfully going to trump anything else.

 

[Mr_Tee]

Personally always seen this as a risk from soft-sided luggage, albeit with less risk of general damage than hard sided.

And when a lightning alarm goes off at an airport OH&S is rightfully going to trump anything else.

You're correct that a lightning alarm becomes the priority, but it shouldn't necessarily "trump anything else" as you put it. It's then not an excuse for VA or any airline to throw their hands in the air and say "well, we have no liability for anything now, not even the consequential damages caused by our OH&S policies coming into effect".

We also don't know that the lightning protocols were in effect in the OP's situation. The OP does not mention this.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Personally always seen this as a risk from soft-sided luggage, albeit with less risk of general damage than hard sided.

And when a lightning alarm goes off at an airport OH&S is rightfully going to trump anything else.

Agree OH&S trumps. But if ramp staff have to walk back to their base/terminal, why not drive the cart with baggage on it?

If that’s not practical or driving is dangerous, the airline should contract to have covered baggage carts.

If airlines would be liable on an international trip for the same bag in the same circumstances, domestic pax should feel entitled to the same expectation?

 

[markis10]

You're correct that a lightning alarm becomes the priority, but it shouldn't necessarily "trump anything else" as you put it. It's then not an excuse for VA or any airline to throw their hands in the air and say "well, we have no liability for anything now, not even the consequential damages caused by our OH&S policies coming into effect".

We also don't know that the lightning protocols were in effect in the OP's situation. The OP does not mention this.

There is no such thing as a lightning alarm. All the major airports use a system by Indratel including OOL that alerts traffic:

White Strobe - Storm within 10nm and to be alert
Blue Strobe - Storm activity is within 5 nautical miles of the airport and airline crew, ground crew and airport staff need to leave the tarmac immediately. Whilst aircraft may still be landing and taking off, services such as baggage handling, catering, refuelling, cleaning and maintenance are suspended.

Failure to vacate the apron immediately with a blue strobe will result in infringement notices at most airports, and loss of the right to access the apron in cases of repeat offences. Safety officers in multiple cars enforce the requirement assuming they are not shooting birds with blanks or issuing speeding tickets.

 

[Mr_Tee]

There is no such thing as a lightning alarm. All the major airports use a system by Indratel including OOL that alerts traffic:

White Strobe - Storm within 10nm and to be alert
Blue Strobe - Storm activity is within 5 nautical miles of the airport and airline crew, ground crew and airport staff need to leave the tarmac immediately. Whilst aircraft may still be landing and taking off, services such as baggage handling, catering, refuelling, cleaning and maintenance are suspended.

Failure to vacate the apron immediately with a blue strobe will result in infringement notices at most airports, and loss of the right to access the apron in cases of repeat offences. Safety officers in multiple cars enforce the requirement assuming they are not shooting birds with blanks or issuing speeding tickets.

Whether you call it a strobe or an alarm the intent and effect is the same.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

There is no such thing as a lightning alarm. All the major airports use a system by Indratel including OOL that alerts traffic:

White Strobe - Storm within 10nm and to be alert
Blue Strobe - Storm activity is within 5 nautical miles of the airport and airline crew, ground crew and airport staff need to leave the tarmac immediately. Whilst aircraft may still be landing and taking off, services such as baggage handling, catering, refuelling, cleaning and maintenance are suspended.

Failure to vacate the apron immediately with a blue strobe will result in infringement notices at most airports, and loss of the right to access the apron in cases of repeat offences. Safety officers in multiple cars enforce the requirement assuming they are not shooting birds with blanks or issuing speeding tickets.

The Indratel website says its systems provide early warning of an impending weather event, allowing ramp staff to prepare, secure ground equipment, and get to safety.

Sydney airport’s ‘Airside Driving Pocketbook’ says appropriate actions should be taken at the 10nm and 5nm warning stages, per the employee’s company procedures.

Airlines and their contractors need to be prepared!

 

[markis10]

Whether you call it a strobe or an alarm the intent and effect is the same.

It’s a storm warning system and is activated by the airport based on BOM data. Prior to such systems there was TASST or Terminal Area Severe Storm Threat IIRC, and data would be broadcast at the end of the ATIS

 

[Bolt]

Here's my 2 cents. So, just about every airport has sophisticated equipment to monitor the weather, including precipitation and lightning. I don't think it's reasonable to say "we were caught off guard by the weather, and that's why your bag is wet". Having such great equipment and active monitoring, it was a forseeable event. Secondly, there is no reasonable expectation that any bag will be waterproof. Any bag with a zip can be compromised by water, and soft cases even more so. It's reasonable to expect that many passengers have softcase baggage, too. So I think that there would have been reasonable foresight for this event, but the risks were ignored.