Backhander to champ; Qantas spirit blasted

Well, this is rather dissapointing .... but .... (you knew it was coming) ...

I want to know who the management was for the Australian team and if they had done their job correctly by forewarning Qantas and also attempting to get support and/or sponsorship from them for the upcoming event. $600 is outrageous any time of day, I'd have put two eyes and a smiley face on the box and had it sit next to me, so I can't agree on the cost, but if that's the way Qantas does things, then that's the way they do it. (Having said that, I've only ever paid $10 or $20 for a domestic flight for a bike box ... it's always been a flat fee??).

I've heard 2nd hand information that the whole Australian support/event over in NZ was rather average, however, as stated, that's 2nd hand, so I'd like to know first hand what it was like in general.

If you rocked up at Qantas and *expected* to get VIP treatment even if you were representing Australia, I'm sorry, but that lacks planning and forethought. We are under represented at the best of times, so perhaps some more liasing with the people that can truly mess up your day was in order.

Of course, I fully expect to eat my words if this was done and Qantas simply stuffed up on the day.
 
Wel I think it is rough for any girl to pay a bag handling fee.

SCBLACK is it true you can pool your kit and have it averaged out?
 
As has been said, if you ever fly with your bike around Australia / NZ then fly virgin. You get screwed with qantas and jet star.

I don't really feel that sorry for them, if you look at qantas and jetstar website they don't hide the fact that you will pay for your bike with excess baggage costs. People need to do a bit of research.

As a side note, if you ever want to ride/fly in europe you will get hit excess baggage charges as its 20kg allowance flying west. If you fly east to the US you get 35kg. The best option (not kidding) is to get a round the world ticket and fly via the US, go to whislter while your at it.
 
TonyG said:
SCBLACK is it true you can pool your kit and have it averaged out?
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Yes, as I say I have done it several times. You may have to be a group booking or something, but simply see the check-in people and explain the situation, and they're quite helpful.
 
TonyG said:
Wel I think it is rough for any girl to pay a bag handling fee.
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its rough for both girls and BOYS(lets not be sexist here ey), many boys also copped the fee, one junior male simply said next time, hel just buy a seat for it.

I sent my email off, its simply bull. but yeh no

"australians supporting australians" I didnt realise this had fallen into non existence. :rolleyes:
 
again i do think this needs to be commented on by the organiser of the logistics of the australian mountain biking teams co-ordinator. you work it out, 2 bikes + lugage + tools if they bring their own and any extras such as tyres or spare wheels and than realise that you are flying not only overseas but on a carrier that clearly states the extra allowed on the plane. you would think they would of used their common sense to sort something out with QANTAS or virgin(they still would of got charged on virgin just because of the amount of gear they had) ahead of time. i am sure they could of sorted something out or at least looked at the option of having everyones bikes on the next day air frieght service so that they were available and didn't have to pay the amount they did.

but yeah.

if anyone that did the organising from the team or was in the team can explain what happened that would be rad. are they co-ordinated by a team or is it just fly over when you want, meet up at this time, go for a ride, sit in the aussie tent than do your race and find your own way back home? or is there someone who directs the entire team ?
 
screwed

thats pretty F@#ked
so that stands to reason if i ate 4 quarter pounders before a plane trip they should charge me $9-:mad:
screw them, i ride virgin anyway
they may not be patriotic, but making my dollars stay in my wallet to buy more riding gear is all good to me.
:D
 
roxy12 said:
well im guesing none of you have looked further, but both quantus and virgin have a statement on there site stateing they will not sponsor/assist anyone of an extreme sport as there company want a vision of safety.

funny since Im sure theres lots of accidents and injuries in rally raceing?
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What about Rugby???? How many guys in rugby end up paraplegics? Quite a number and more with severe knee and ankle probs not to mention a whole panoply of injuries. Safe???? I DON'T THINK SO. They, Qantas,:mad: are just pathetic.
 
Touche!

spinner said:
If anything , Orange should reimburse her. She just won them a world championships.
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Damn straight...

Getting stuff on airplanes is as much a matter of luck as it is good management. Had she come across an understanding check-in type, no probs. Get someone on a bad day, and life is all bad.

Just smile and wave, boys, just smile and wave...

Amazes me, though, what passes as journalism these days. The original Cairns Post article was, IMHO, a rather large load of irrelevent shite.

Spotbike3
 
I wrote to Qantas about this problem and received a written reply the other day. It told me that it came under privacy laws and they couldn't comment. what a load of crap!!! :)
 
Bottom line is that the organisers of the event should have looked into getting a deal with carriers or organise transport for the team bikes. A few phone calls to the right people could easily have made the world of difference. Rather than slagging off Qantas, perhaps it may be better looking a bit closer to our sport and it's organisers. $600 is a big cop in anyones book, especially when airline seats to NZ are cheap as, but unfortunately at this stage probably the best that can come from it is we learn from this and be better prepared next year.......Hassle the team organisers to get something sorted long before check in.
 
mtbmamma said:
I wrote to Qantas about this problem and received a written reply the other day. It told me that it came under privacy laws and they couldn't comment. what a load of crap!!! :)
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Actually it sounds pretty much spot on for the privacy laws. You wrote to them regarding a specific incident which involved a passenger (I assume) you are in no way related to. I'm impressed they responded at all.

Botoom line here is that bikes take up space and planes only have so much.
Qantas (and all other carriers) have a clearly publicised policy. As has already been said, had an arrangement been made in advance I'm sure it would have been all good.
 
I won't argue against the fact that Qantas sucks when it comes to bikes/sporting goods (compared to Virgin, a stark contrast) - but as a quiet few have said - why should she fly for free and not any other riding passenger? where do you draw the line? a privateer racer might be just as fast and have just as little money. Rules are in place for a reason, and it is up to the individual (or team in this case) to research the costs of flying with a bike before buying tickets and jumping on a plane.
 
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