‘Disgusting, animal abuse’: AFL star, Love Island contestant caught up in Qantas’ IT system failure

A footballer and Love Island star say their french bulldog was subjected to “disgusting” treatment by Qantas as the airline battles a system failure.

Qantas has been slammed by an influencer couple after its freight system was thrown into chaos, with their dog caught up in an IT failure that meant goods have been left behind at airports.

The airline has confirmed that a system upgrade to its freight handling system in late September led to an outage that caused significant delays for customers.

With the IT system down, workers were forced to process shipments manually, causing backlogs in deliveries at some of the nation’s largest airports.

AFL star Nathan Broad and his television personality wife Tayla saw their french bulldog get caught up in the delays, claiming that their pet was left in a crate for up to 14 hours without food when they sent him from Melbourne to Perth.

Qantas Freight suffered an IT system failure in September that led to days of delays for customers. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Tayla and Nathan Broad say their dog was left in a crate for hours due to the delays.

They say Qantas didn’t notify them of any changes after the dog wasn’t put on a flight, and a family member waited for hours at Perth airport only to be told it hadn’t arrived.

“This is disgusting and animal abuse,” Mrs Broad wrote on social media.

“He is so rattled. Couldn’t get up our stairs due to exhaustion, so dehydrated, drooling and all out of sorts,” she wrote in another post.

Broad said Qantas’ “excuse” was that its system was down.

“You belong in a crate you useless airline!” he wrote on Instagram.

The airline issued a statement in the wake of the incident apologising to the couple.

The AFL star took to social media to blast Qantas. Picture: Instagram

As did Tayla Broad. Picture: Instagram

“Our team regularly checked the pet was OK, refilled their water and made sure the crate was clean. The crate was kept under cover in our freight terminal while waiting,” a spokesperson said.

The delays also meant unrefrigerated produce and pharmaceuticals were ruined, with the Sydney Morning Herald reporting that corpses were left in coffins on the tarmac.

Qantas has denied that coffins were left at airports, with urgent medical supplies and human remains prioritised to avoid delays.

The airline says the IT issue has been fixed and domestic backlogs cleared; however, there are still delays on international freight services.

“The issue has now been addressed and we are working around the clock to make sure all outstanding items get where they need to go as quickly as possible,” a Qantas Freight spokesperson said.

“We appreciate this has been really frustrating for customers and we are sorry that this outage impacted them over the past couple of weeks. We’ve been posting regular website updates and getting in touch with customers directly.”

Originally published as ‘Disgusting, animal abuse’: AFL star, Love Island contestant caught up in Qantas’ IT system failure