Qantas international travel revolution solution

The airline says it’s found a way to ensure more international passengers will reach their destination along with their luggage.

Daily meetings of Qantas executives to tackle ongoing performance issues at the airline have come up with what the company hopes will resolve high rates of mishandled bags.

From August 21, passengers connecting from Qantas domestic to international flights in Sydney and Melbourne will have transfer times extended from 60 to 90 minutes.

The extension of time has been identified as a key factor in improving the rate of mishandled bags which is currently 9 in 1000, up from 5 in 1000 pre-Covid-19.

Customers with a domestic to international transfer of under 90-minutes will be moved to an earlier flight at no extra cost.

It’s understood the extra time is considered sufficient for the transferral of bags from domestic to international flights in the current environment where staffing and sickness rates remain an issue.

The measure is not expected to have any impact on Qantas’s financial position.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said while there were lots of good reasons, the airline’s operational performance had not been up to the standard customers were used to.

“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,” he said.

“Bringing our operations back to pre-Covid standard and maintaining our focus on safety is our absolute priority.”

Qantas airport baggage handlers. Picture: Supplied

From now on, customers booking online or with a travel agent will only be offered flight options with a minimum 90-minute connection time.

The changes will only affect passengers flying with Qantas, not those connecting to other international carriers in Sydney and Melbourne.

The extension in connection times are in addition to a 10 per cent cut in capacity across Qantas and Jetstar with further adjustments being made on the high-frequency Sydney-Melbourne route.

More than 1500 additional staff have also been hired since April, with most going into operational roles such as cabin crew, flight crew, engineering and so on.

The latest efforts to tackle high rates of mishandled baggage come as workers with ground handling services provider Dnata vote on protected industrial action.

Any strikes would affect up to 20 airlines that use Dnata’s services at Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane Airports.

Qantas has also asked senior managers to work as baggage handlers for up to five-days a week for three months, to help the airline tackle current performance issues.

The request from chief operating officer Colin Hughes was slammed by unions, coming after Qantas outsourced 1700 below-wing workers to save $100m a year.

The outsourcing decision was ruled unlawful by the Federal Court and the Full Federal Court. Qantas has now sought special leave to appeal the ruling in the High Court.