Summary
- Bags offloaded from Qantas flight QF-122 because of weight restrictions and runway concerns.
- Qantas statement blames strong winds in Queenstown for offloading baggage and delays in delivering it to customers.
- Passengers, including Taylor Swift concert-goers, left without luggage because of weather-related flight issues.
On Friday, February 23, Qantas reportedly offloaded bags of over 60 passengers before their flight departed. This was done because of weight restrictions and concerns concerning the length of the runway. Allegedly, several passengers were also bumped from the flight.
Offloaded bags
Qantas operates a each day flight between Queenstown Airport (ZQN) in Latest Zealand and Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) in Australia. This three-hour flight is operated as QF-122. It typically departs Queenstown at 15:25 local time and is scheduled to reach in Sydney at 16:40 local time.
Photo: Seth Jaworski | Shutterstock
Qantas operates this each day flight with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft that provides two classes: business class and standard economy class. The business class seats 12 passengers, and economy seats 162.
Many passengers had elected to take this flight from Queenstown to Sydney with a purpose to see the famous country and pop star Taylor Swift perform. The singer is scheduled to perform 4 shows at Accor Stadium in Sydney, with the concert events occurring on Friday, February 23, through Monday, February 26.
Nonetheless, Qantas was forced to dump several bags of passengers on this flight. In a press release, the airline’s representatives said,
“We understand that anytime customers’ baggage doesn’t arrive, it is incredibly frustrating. As a consequence of strong winds in Queenstown, we needed to carry extra fuel, which meant some customer’s bags weren’t capable of be carried. The luggage was placed on a flight to Sydney on Saturday and was couriered out to customers.”
This prevented most of the passengers from obtaining their baggage and its contents prior to the Taylor Swift concert that many had traveled to Sydney for. One passenger, Suzanne Pentecost, spoke to Crux concerning the incident. She said,
“I’m just more fuming as my Taylor Swift outfit is in there which I won’t receive before the concert!”
Queenstown Airport’s shorter runway and weather conditions have recently affected its operations. Several flights have had baggage unloaded because of weather concerns requiring extra fuel, and lots of passengers have been forced to attend several days to acquire their luggage.
Photo: Peterfz30 | Shutterstock
Specifically, on Friday’s flight, the luggage that was unloaded was placed on the flight the subsequent day, February 24. Nonetheless, that aircraft didn’t land in Sydney until 20:54 local time, after a diversion to Christchurch International Airport (CHC), per Flightradar24. This was several hours after the beginning of the Taylor Swift concert, so passengers were unable to acquire their required luggage prior to the beginning of the show.
![An unidentified airliner taking off.](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/shutterstock_559714906-2.jpg)
How Do Airlines Calculate Their Weight & Balance Restrictions?
Examining an important aspect of protected flight.
Other passengers affected
Along with offloading baggage, Crux also reported that passengers were taken off the flight. One in every of the passengers, Eileen Cullen, told Crux that she and her daughter were told their flight was unavailable and were rebooked to the identical flight on Sunday, February 25. Moreover, Cullen reported that at the very least 4 other passengers were bumped from the Friday flight.
Removing passengers and bags from the flight allowed the aircraft to load up on extra fuel. This is able to have only been required if extremely strong headwinds were present on the flight from Queenstown to Sydney.