Qantas service does not fly

Qantas service does not fly

On June 29, 1999, I took a flight from Sydney to Jakarta with
my wife, two-year-old daughter and four-year-old son aboard
Qantas flight QF41. The departure was scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
local time.

We arrived at the airport at 8:45 a.m. for check-in. While
waiting in line, we were approached by a Qantas staff member who
asked us if we would be willing to take the next flight due to
"overbooking" of QF41. The later flight was to arrive in Jakarta
about six hours after QF41. If we agreed to the offer, Qantas
said they would give us US$1,200 in compensation. We agreed to
take the next flight. However, they checked in all our baggage
and put tags on them for QF41 and not the later flight. They also
told us to wait in standby and come back at 10:00 a.m. with our
baggage.

At 10:00 a.m., we were told to board QF41 without any
compensation. To our surprise, the ground staff refused to take
our baggage although it had already been checked in and tagged.
They said that the flight could be delayed if they took our
baggage. We were ordered to take our baggage to the gate and hand
it to the Qantas staff to be placed inside the plane's baggage
compartment (not in the cabin). With disappointment and hard
work, we brought the baggage to the gate, which was quite
difficult while also carrying our children.

At the gate, we complained to the Qantas staff and we were
given a rude reply. One of the staff members even laughed at us.
And worse still, inside the plane the flight attendants blamed us
for the delay. We really feel cheated by the Qantas staff.

R. G. SETOKUSUMO

Jakarta