A Qantas passenger has slammed the airline after her dream holiday to Fiji was ruined when her luggage was returned soaked.
Shirley Becke, 70, had planned the getaway to celebrate her birthday with her husband and booked a flight from Sydney to the island hotspot on April 5.
To her horror, Ms Becke claimed her luggage was returned to her wet after being left in the rain on the tarmac in Sydney for at least 30 minutes.
The New South Wales capital experienced one of the wettest days on record as the region was hit by the heaviest rain in four years.
“When we got to our hotel and opened our suitcases, our clothes and toiletries were wet,” Ms Becke said. yahoo.
Shirley Becke (pictured right) had planned a dream holiday with her husband (pictured left) to Fiji to celebrate her birthday, but discovered to her horror that her suitcases were soaked.
The 70-year-old woman was forced to spend the first night of her holiday without clothes, including her underwear.
Becke said she had to dry her wet clothes and belongings, including her suitcase, on the hotel balcony.
“I didn’t have dry clothes available until the next day because I had to put all the wet clothes on the furniture located on the balcony,” she said.
Ms Becke took photographs of the damage showing wet areas on the suitcase and clothing, as well as soaked medicine wrappers.
However, her husband’s luggage was not affected.
Becke claimed her luggage was left out in the rain, for what she believes was at least half an hour, on the day she boarded her flight from Sydney Airport.
He said they left several suitcases and even pets in a trailer that had been towed to the tarmac to be loaded onto the plane.
“It is totally unacceptable as Qantas would have been aware of the bad weather and should surely have prepared for it,” Ms Becke said.
Ms Becke claims her luggage was left on a trailer which was towed onto the tarmac at Sydney Airport while it was raining heavily (pictured)
Sydney received 111mm of rain as of 9am on 5 April.
After Becke returned to Australia from his week-long holiday, he contacted Qantas to raise the issue directly with them.
He claims the airline told him he should have informed airport staff on the day of his departure.
Becke argued that he did not realize the problem until he arrived at his hotel in Fiji.
Qantas informed Becke in an email that staff ensure luggage is not left exposed to rain for a significant period of time.
The airline told him they could not consider water damage to his luggage as a result of the incident.
The 70-year-old took photographs of several belongings she had packed for the trip (pictured), which were left with water stains after her belongings became soaked.
A Qantas spokeswoman told WhatsNew2Day Australia that staff always put safety first during periods of heavy rain.
“When airports are affected by severe storms, staff may be ordered off the airport runway for a period of time until it is safe to continue working,” he said.
“While every effort is made to ensure bags remain covered during wet weather, safety is always our first priority.”
The spokeswoman explained that most passengers understand that their suitcases can get wet when they are loaded and unloaded on the plane.