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