Qantas chaos: outsourced baggage handler says one in 10 bags not making flights

As many as one in 10 pieces of luggage is lost or not loaded onto a Qantas domestic flight each day, according to a baggage handler who works for the company that the carrier hired.

Swissport, one of the main companies Qantas has contracted to provide baggage handling services, has been forced to hire two different labour hire firms to find workers for shifts that Qantas has contracted it to fill.

Despite widespread staff shortages across ground handling and aviation businesses as the battered sector struggles to cope with a return to pre-pandemic travel demand, attrition rates are soaring among new employees scarred by chaotic scenes and poor conditions, with Swissport now offering a $50 a day bonus to baggage handler at

There will be chaos at Australian airports.

While global and local carriers have long relied on third-party contractors to fulfill ground handling services away from their hubs, Qantas and its budget carrier Jetstar's dominance in Australia have meant the recent surge in lost luggage and its emergence as the airline with the worst on- time performance and cancellation rates

Since Qantas decided to outsourcing 1,700 jobs in 2020, there has been a shortage of baggagehandlers. The airline is attempting to challenge the legality of that decision in the high court.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, one Swissport baggage handler in Sydney raised concerns that those loading and transporting bags to and from Qantas and Jetstar flights were poorly paid, and unable to handle the increase in baggage in recent months.

There are about 100 barrows, or trolleys, that carry 30 to 40 pieces of luggage to and from the bellies of Qantas planes each day, but there are about 10 barrows that just don't make it on.

They said that during recent school holiday peaks office managers from Qantas and Swissport had rolled up their sleeves and helped move luggage alongside handler, however "there's just not enough of us there to get to all the bags".

Star Aviation and Workfast have been hired by Swissport to fill shortages in its teams working on Qantas and Jetstar operations. Different airlines have different training and processes for luggage loading.

A worker at Swissport told the Guardian that 25% of his colleagues were from labour hire firms. They said some people were doing less thorough work.

A lot of us are frustrated because they don't do basic things right. Sometimes they just move but don't check bags, which is a necessity, because it can mean we don't know weight distribution in a plane.

Transfer bags aren't making it onto flights with passengers because they've been dropped on arrival carousels.

The worker said staff attrition was becoming a bigger problem as the airport environment became busier and more demanding, and said many of those who joined Swissport when they did, as well as in subsequent months, had left for jobs in different industries.

The staff were not complaining about the bonus, but they were still frustrated with the conditions. Swissport only offers wage increases.

Swissport is stipulating that new employees spend their first month at the airport in a bid to get them to stay in the city.

At a jobs fair at the airport, Swissport was hiring part-time workers, but also offering them full-time hours under their contracts.

The worker said recent coverage of Qantas's big spends on new ultra-long-haul aircraft for direct flights to Europe had angered tired workers. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to see Alan Joyce on TV.

During a busy shift recently, when a colleague injured themselves, both the supervisor and manager were busy helping out with other activities, and without an on-site health and safety representative, there was no one to report the injury to.

The worker said that if you can avoid it, don't fly Qantas at all.

Increasing staff shortages and attrition were a problem for ground handler providers. According to an industry source, one company started 20 new employees at 9am on a Monday at an Australian airport. Only seven of the 20 employees remained by the Friday of that week after eight of them quit.

The young people coming into these roles are getting yelled at, they're getting paid poorly, and now they're saying "you know what, bugger this, I'm going to work in a cafe because I get paid as much or more than I do here and..."

Those who lost their jobs during the Pandemic are not interested in going back to work in the industry that closed on them. There is a huge void of experience according to the source.

Qantas was challenged in the federal court by the Transport Workers Union. Qantas's squeeze on contracts is neither sustainable nor safe and Swissport had no choice but to keep wages low.

Swissport can't recruit or keep staff. Swissport would rather pay workers an extra $50 a day to show up for work than pay proper wages.

Domestic flights will be cut as fuel prices go up.

Qantas said that outsourcing continues to be a challenge for the entire aviation industry, and that its ground handling suppliers had improved since the holiday peak in April.

The rate of mishandled baggage has improved recently, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

The scale of Swissport's operations makes it possible to deliver a cost-effective service that is safe and reliable, according to a company spokesman.

The rapid rebound in travel demand has put a lot of pressure on the aviation sector.

Are you aware of more? If you would like to contact elias.visontay, you can do so at The Guardian.