Suitcases and a pet crate were seen left on trolleys on the tarmac next to a Qantas aircraft in the pouring rain for up to 30 minutes
Suitcases and a pet crate were seen left on trolleys on the tarmac next to a Qantas aircraft in the pouring rain for up to 30 minutes
Qantas has been slammed by passengers after it was caught leaving luggage and travelling caged pets in the rain on the tarmac for about 30 minutes.
A traveller took to social media claiming her luggage “came home wet” after she disembarked her flight at Sydney, accusing Qantas of leaving bags and pets outdoors in the rain on Friday.
It also happened to be the day Sydney faced its highest daily rainfall in two years.
Another passenger on the same flight also called out the airline, claiming their luggage turned up soaked.
“[I was on] on same flight, my luggage came home wet. Thinking a cover in these conditions would be nice,” they wrote on social media
A photo of the “unacceptable” act was shared online showing a number of suitcases on a trolley left in the heavy rain, while a pet in a carry cage was left to get soaked.
There were no airline workers visible in the photo, indicating the pets had been left unattended.
Suitcases and a pet crate were seen left on trolleys on the tarmac next to a Qantas aircraft in the pouring rain for up to 30 minutes
The passenger’s post attracted many comments with some describing it as “unacceptable” while others said they would be “fuming”.
“Those poor fur babies. I’d report this if I saw it after flying my little dude to and from New Zealand,” one person said. “Should have brought this to the attention of ground crew ASAP.”
“I’m unimpressed by the luggage but those pet carriers out there is absolutely unacceptable,” a man wrote.
“I’d be fuming if my boy was stuck on the tarmac in a cage in torrential rain, making an already stressful situation even worse”.
“Disgusting to leave those fur babies out in the rain. Almost animal abuse,” another said.
Qantas responds
Qantas has announced that it will conduct an urgent investigation into how both the suitcases and pets were left out in the rain for up to 30 minutes last week.
A Qantas spokeswoman told Yahoo it is investigating the incident and that the airline “takes the safety and welfare of pets travelling with us very seriously”.
“In weather conditions such as last Friday, we have a policy of keeping pets undercover until the very last moment that they need to leave the terminal to be loaded into the aircraft,” the spokeswoman said.
