judilie

Last month we flew Virgin Blue from Melbourne to Adelaide and less than two hours later flew REX from Adelaide to Kingcote, Kangaroo Island. When we checked in for our REX flight, we were informed that Virgin Blue had not loaded one of our bags on the flight from Melbourne to Adelaide and it would come on a later flight and then be put on a later flight to K.I. We met with a staff member of Virgin Blue in their Baggage Blues office, and she admitted that it was Virgin Blue's error in not loading on of our bags. She was very nice and said that she would make every effort to get the bag to us at our hotel in Kingscote, including trying to hire a taxi to bring it from the airport to our hotel. However, shortly before boarding our flight to K.I., we were told that Virgin Blue had not been able to find a way to get the bag to us and we would have to pick it up ourselves at the Kingscote airport. In so doing, we incurred extra mileage on our rental car and had to purchase additional petrol, not to speak of the time we spent going back to the airport and the inconvenience of my not having my luggage for most of the day. When I called and left a message to request some compensation for the extra expense we incurred because of Virgin Blue's error and inability to find a way to get the bag to us, I received an e-mail reply saying that "As per the terms and conditions agreed to at the time of booking we are unable to provide any compensation for any losses incurred as a result of delayed luggage." When the Baggage Blues girl offered to get our suitcase to us, she was implicitly offering to cover the expense. But when she couldn't arrange something, the burden fell to us. Fortunately we spent our first night on K.I in Kingscote, so it wasn't too far to get back to the airport. If we'd gone to the other side of the island after arriving, this would have been a major inconvenience.

By the way, on our flight back to the U.S. on Air New Zealand, one of our bags did not arrive on our flight because it was mistakenly not loaded. It was personally delivered to our house 6 hours later.

LizzyF

I am not condoning V.I but before you do condemn a cut price airline for not delivering your bags I would suggest that you take a trip to Miami, USA on AA( a non cut-price airline) and see what happens when they misplace your luggage, and the discourteous and rude treatment that you will get. Or may I suggest that you even try to phone them and see if anyone answers. This is the norm at Miami so please do not think that your airlines offer a better service because if you or anyone with you get their bags in Miami it is just plain lucky .

Jed

Indeed. As the saying goes - You can't get Cadillac quality at a Chevrolet price.

sunsurfsand

Several years ago an airline lost my daughters luggage as she was flying from Italy to Austria. She landed in freezing cold conditions wearing shorts, T shirt and sandals.
She had to purchase warm clothing and shoes and was not compensated by the airline. Everything was lost - as well as clothes, she lost her journal, gifts and rolls of film as the luggage was never recovered.
I can appreciate that you were inconvenienced, but you did recover your luggage within 24 hours and if you deliver dire warnings about airlines that lose luggage, no-one will ever fly again.

stevew

OMG extra kilometers and petrol for a rental car.

Bags often take later flights than we do. Just happens - some airlines deliver bags (AA does by the way not that they are friendly to deal with). Some airlines do not. If you get up on their web site and do some research you will most likely find that information in writing.

Everything I have ever read about Virgin Blue has been good. This is the first bad post that I have read. It's so long for such an inconvenience. I would have expected to read that the luggage was lost forever.

And for those who travel to the states - if your luggage is delayed most (not all) airlines will provide a vanity kit to you - but you have to go to the luggage office and ask for one - they will never offer it on their own.......

Cheers

Steve

twoaussies

I have to rebutt the criticism of American Airlines. A couple of years ago two pieces of luggage were not put on a flight from Miami to Belize. AND the next flight was in three days. So we were in the jungle with only a swimsuit and clothes we were wearing. Try shopping in Belmopan for American style clothing. AA repaid us for $140 each for clothing and delivered the suitcase to a resort three hours out.

Jed

We always pack an 'emergency' carry-on, just in case, so we are not left with no clothes. I imagine a lot of others do also.

JohnFitz

I agree with LizzyF. Those who book cut price fares run risks with " fine print " on the ticket contract. As an aside to this issue everyone also needs to be aware that VB and Jetstar are very strict on baggage size and weight including carry on .I know several people who have ben caught domestically in Aus and overseas .There is no lee way for a half kilo etc.This is how they make money.
judilie , what did you think of Kangaroo Island ? It has become such a prominent place on itineraries for overseas visitors on this board and given the cost , time and relative difficulty of getting to it I still have not made up my mind that it is worth the effort . Was it ?

judilie

JohnFitz,

I posted a report on our time in Kangaroo Island under a thread about K.I. that was last updated on 12/2/07 (and hence still appears in the list on the left, in the 20s or so). We enjoyed it a lot, and I would recommend it to anyone who feels that they can take the extra time to go there. The car rental was more expensive than in most places we've been to in Australia and, at least with Budget, we didn't get unlimited mileage, but otherwise we didn't find it to be pricier than other places we've visited in Australia.

twoaussies

My husband and I returned this week to Florida after three months in Australia. One of the highlights of our trip was Kangaroo Island.
Hertz allows one to pick up a car at the airport in Adelaide and drive it onto the ferry to K.I. It also has unlimited kilometers. We then drove to Melbourne on the G.O.R.
We had a cottage in Vivonne Bay "Island Dream" and it was a dream, close to a beach voted Australia's best - the sunrises were incredible.
Highlight of the three days was a visit to Paul's Place - a very touristy farm that allows one to hold a koala; have a 100 pound kangaroo put in one's arms to be fed with a bottle, and to get up close and very personal with most Australian animals.
Virgin Blue has reasonable fares in Australia now.
If time permits then I would definitely recommend a trip to K.I.