Qantas loses Taranaki woman’s luggage on way to Sydney wedding - vows never to fly with them

Courtney Allison-Young was left $600 out of pocket, after Qantas lost her and her two-year-old son's luggage on the way to a NSW wedding. Photo / Facebook

A woman travelling to Sydney for a wedding has unleashed her fury at carrier Qantas after her and her two-year-old’s luggage went missing en route from New Zealand.

Courtney Allison-Young was travelling from New Plymouth to attend a wedding in Jarvis Bay on Monday, but five days later was still without clothes, personal items or her baby stroller.

“Still waiting for my four bags after arriving in Sydney on Thursday,” All my baby luggage and items including my son’s medication ‘lost’. I have a trackable bag tag and can see they’ve been in Sydney for days!” said the passenger on Sunday, having had to go out and rebuy items.

She had been flying from New Plymouth via Auckland when all her and her child’s luggage went missing.

The mother of one from Taranaki had been travelling with two suitcases, a pram and a bassinet, when she realised that at least some of her luggage had made it to Sydney.

Allison-Young told the Mail Online that she had been given multiple mixed messages from the airline’s customer assistance staff.

One told her that the luggage was on its way to be delivered. Others said airport understaffing had led to backlogs of at least a couple of days.

Another told her to go to the airport, a three-hour drive from her wedding accommodation on the South Coast.

“Constant hang ups from customer service and no one seems to know where the bags are… they are in Sydney!

“Absolutely hopeless and unhelpful! Will never book again,” she wrote to Facebook.

Qantas replaced two services with large A380s, last week, to clear a backlog in luggage. Photo / File

The traveller said she insisted on rebooking with Air New Zealand having been left over $600 out of pocket by the experience.

The airline said that operations were still affected by Cyclone Gabrielle last week and that most carriers were dealing with a much higher level of misplaced luggage.

“We understand waiting for bags is really frustrating for passengers and thank them for their patience as we work through the backlog following Cyclone Gabrielle,” said a Qantas spokesperson.

“We sent additional team members from Australia over to Auckland after the cyclone and are working closely with Auckland Airport and our ground handler to help get bags to customers as quickly as possible.”

Qantas bids ex-employees to come back

Last week Qantas staff made redundant during the pandemic received a surprise invitation to reapply for jobs.

Having laid off over 8500 staff over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic the Australian carrier looked to rehire key roles, in a bid to keep up with travel demand.

A leaked email posted to the Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia Facebook group revealed that Qantas was asking former staff to come back to the company.

Qantas staff made redundant during the pandemic were offered new contracts by the airline, now in profit. Photo / Supplied

Qantas advertised 1500 roles specifically to crew who took voluntary redundancy or resigned since 2020.

Now in profit and growing the email said that it was experiencing “very different circumstances” to the pandemic.

The airline had approached “experienced former cabin crew” with the offer of 12-month contracts.

Qantas confirmed the recruitment efforts to news.com.au, last week.

“When our airline operations were grounded as a result of the pandemic and we had to stand down most of our workforce, a number of people made very difficult decisions to leave the company,” a Qantas spokeswoman said.

Expressions of interest close on Sunday 26 February.