Qantas has decided to increase its minimum time for outbound international connections from 60 minutes to 90 minutes to address missing baggage for customers.
The change will come into effect from 21 August, applying to all new and existing Qantas bookings that include a domestic connection with an outbound international flight. The airline will notify customers and agents with existing bookings who’re impacted by the change and move them to an earlier flight at no extra cost.
Qantas said that the additional buffer “will mean fewer customers will travel on their international flight without their bags.”
“While there are lots of good reasons why, the simple fact is our operational performance hasn’t been up to the standard our customers are used to, or that we expect of ourselves,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said.
“We are taking additional steps to get back to our best, which have been shaped by feedback from our frontline teams who are doing a phenomenal job under tough circumstances.
“Bringing our operations back to pre-COVID standard and maintaining our focus on safety is our absolute priority.”
The flying kangaroo is also looking at ‘international to domestic’ and ‘domestic to domestic’ connection times at these airports.
However, Qantas said that ‘domestic to international’ will make the biggest difference, which is why the airline is prioritising it.
This is one of the steps taken by the airline to fix baggage handling issues as the mishandled luggage rate is at 7 bags per 1000, two more than usual.
Qantas and Jetstar have reduced its flying capacity of over 10 per cent for the coming months and the group has hired more than 1500 people since April.
However the airline has been plagued by high numbers of its staff falling ill with COVID and the flu, with sick leave tracking about 50 per cent higher than usual.
Also, baggage handlers provided by Dnata, which is contracted to Qantas after the airline outsourced handlers in 2020, have been given the green light to vote on industrial action.
Dnata ground crew have been fighting against an agreement that the Transport Workers Union (TWU) said will result in pay cuts and push workers into below the legal award conditions.
The result of the ballot is expected early next month.
Similarly, 90 per cent of Qantas Group engineers have voted to strike, a result which the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association believes will help bring them back to the negotiating table.
