Qantas loses bag then charges $420 excess luggage fee for weight of replacement items

Corrinne and Peter Olsen during their Bali holiday. Photo / Supplied via news.com.au

A Sydney woman says she will never fly Qantas again after it lost her baggage for a week then slugged her A$380 ($420) in excess luggage fees on the return trip for the replacement items bought before the missing bag materialised.

Three hours after Corrinne Olsen and her husband Peter's bag failed to appear at Denpasar airport on July 2, staff at the terminal gave them A$60 ($66), a set of pyjamas and one toothbrush.

In the following days, the couple attempted to get updates on the missing surfboard "coffin" bag, which also contained toiletries, shoes and other travel essentials. But the online tracking process didn't work and there was no telephone number to call.

A week after they arrived in Bali and five days before their departure date, the bag turned up. By this time, the couple had already replaced the missing items.

When they went to check in for their return flight to Sydney, they were hit with a A$380 ($420) charge for 11kg excess luggage. The Olsens attempted to explain the situation to a Qantas employee at the airport, only to be told that "either you pay or you stay".

Olsen told The Daily Telegraph this week she was stunned.

"Why should I have to pay for excess baggage when they lost the luggage?" she said. "I will never travel with them again – ever."

Qantas has been in the spotlight over baggage handling since it sacked 2000 ground crew during the pandemic in an outsourcing move the Federal Court has since ruled was illegal. Then, at Easter this year, the airline's "mishandled" bag rates blew out to double pre-Covid levels, which it said was due to staff shortages caused by Covid and flu.

After The Telegraph questioned Qantas over the Olsens' treatment, the airline said it would reimburse the excess luggage fee.

Olsen said that she now had a plan for keeping track of her bags In future – when flying with other airlines. Meanwhile, Qantas says there's been a big change in its "mishandled bag rate".