Qantas baggage handlers snap $4000 collectable surfboards

A Melbourne man’s rare surfboard collection has found itself at the mercy of Qantas, as baggage handlers destroyed his $4000 boards

Qantas has “lowballed” an Aussie whose rare surfboard collection found itself at the mercy of Qantas baggage handlers, as staff on a domestic flight this week destroyed $4000 worth of “irreplaceable” boards.

James Huddle, 45, travelled from Melbourne to Newcastle on Monday for a business trip, hoping to catch some waves in his spare time. Unzipping his travel bag for an evening surf upon arrival, however, he was met with an unpleasant surprise – all three boards had been snapped at the nose.

“It looks to me like someone drove over them.” he told news.com.au. “We’re talking irreparable damage. They’re being held together just by the fibreglass shell.”

After several days of haggling, Qantas made their offer – $2400 to cover all three boards. Mr Huddle couldn’t provide receipts of purchase while away from home, he said, and so Qantas took the opportunity to “depreciate” the boards’ value.

“Obviously it doesn’t cover the cost of the damaged equipment,” he added.

James Huddle's $4000 surfboards were damaged irreparably by Qantas baggage handlers. Picture: Supplied.

Qantas baggage handlers – who work as employees of ground staff company Swissport – have been under the microscope since a series of viral videos showed them hurling checked luggage through the airport. Some of the handlers filmed have since been sacked.

One of Mr Huddle’s surfboards – a limited edition model by star shaper Joel Fitzgerald – he described as “irreplaceable”.

“They’re my babies,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Mr Huddle, a Melbourne-based artist and co-owner of kombucha company Two Boys Brew, attempted to contact Qantas customer service in the aftermath of the destruction, which is where he said the “real ordeal began”.

“No one seemed capable of picking up the phone,” he said.

“We’re talking about a multi-billion dollar company. All I want is for them to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey mate, we’re taking care of this.’”

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With his best boards unusable, Mr Hubble is out of the water for the 21 days Qantas takes to resolve baggage complaints. Picture: Instagram.

Mr Huddle has filed three reports – with airport employees in person, with customer service, and via their online incident form. With his three high-performance boards unrideable, he’s out of the water until Qantas responds, which could take up to 21 days.

“I’m just trying to get a working holiday in before Christmas, meet some clients and drive some sales,’ Mr Huddle said.

“I’m in one of the most famous and most beautiful surf spots in the country, and I’m totally stranded.”

Finally, he took the issue to TikTok.

@jimmyhuddle

@qantas Melbourne Baggage handlers have completely destroyed three of my boards whilst flying from Melbourne to Newcastle. Three days in and have heard nothing from them…imagine knowing you accidentally damaged someone’s property and just didn’t call them. Wtf! 🤷‍♂️ #qantas#baggagehandlers#surfing#surfboards#foryourpage#fml

♬ original sound - user3586815461691

In the now-viral video, Mr Huddle’s three boards are seen snapped at the nose.

“These are thousand dollar surfboards, all completely destroyed,” he says, before panning to a mark on the bag he says looks to be from a car tyre.

A Qantas spokesperson told news.com.au the company had been in touch with Mr Hubble and was “urgently reviewing CCTV and working with our ground handling contractors to find out what has happened”.

Speaking to news.com.au, Mr Huddle said he was grateful to be contacted by Qantas, but believed they were simply attempting to “counteract bad PR” since his video went viral.

Meanwhile, a second ground staff contractor has been looped into the saga.

A Sydney man, who wished to remain anonymous, flew from Brunei to Melbourne with Royal Brunei Arlines last June, and told news.com.au his $1000 Samsonite suitcase was severely damaged. This week, he finally received an answer from Melbourne Airport – Royal Brunei’s ground staff contract is with Menzies Aviation, not Swissport.

“It was shockingly damaged, it clearly looked like it was thrown around or dropped from a serious height,” he said. The suitcase was scraped and cracked down one side, and its ‘fragile’ sticker torn off.

“It seems to me there’s a culture problem at Melbourne airport,” the man said. “It’s not just Swissport. The baggage handlers across the board seem not to be treating fragile items with care.”