CapitanSalami

My OW sapphire tier status is issued by IBERIA. I bought my international ticket through BA. My domestic flights within Australia were booked directly through Qantas website but with a separate PNR. Therefore international flight is not connected to domestic ones.
Even though Qantas system recognizes my Sapphire status, I was obliged to pay for my extra piece of luggage at the airport when checking in. No matter my complaints about it with Qantas staff at checkin counter. Even though they saw I was a Sapphire they said according to Qantas system I had to pay for extra luggage in all my domestic flights. One reason a supervisor managed to give was that my domestic flights should be connected to my international flight otherwise I had to pay.

Anyone knows if that is right? I tried to get in touch with Qantas customer service by email and they said they will answer me back in 15 business days. On the telephone there is always a waiting time list of 1 hour, so I quit.

Thanks beforehand for your help .

Mwenenzi

What class were you travelling in?
Look here https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/sapphire-privileges

Edit
Another thread on this same topic
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qanta...allowance.html

CapitanSalami

I travel in economy class. As far as the link you stated , OW entitles Saphire status frequent travelers with +1 extra piece even in pure economy. It says nothing regarding Qantas special policy or special fare ticket unlike BA o LAN.

So that is why I am asking for help.

No news or whatsoever from Qantas customer service so far.

Mwenenzi

What special policy or special fare?

Lux

No, it entitles you to an extra 15kg above the 23kg limit. This may be spread across more than one bag. I asked when checking my luggage this morning.

As Davenoble has mentioned before, it's worth printing this info out from the Qantas press release and the Oneworld website.

BD1959

Hi CaptainSalami (I won't ask!),

Why did you assume that you were entitled to an additional piece? The oneWorld site is pretty clear, sapphires are only entitled to an additional domestic allowance if the carrier uses the weight system, otherwise it's just a guaranteed one piece when flying on the "piece" system (BA HBO excluded).

According to the QF Website, Qantas uses the piece system for domestic travel.

Regards,

BD

Dave Noble

Indeed. In this case the Qantas agent was correct. There is no additional allowance for a passenger holding sapphire status

If it had been the domestic sector of an international itinerary, there would have been additional allowance of 15Kg is the ticket had a weight based allowance or 2 pieces if the piece system applied

It seems a great case where the agent knew the rules perfectly

This is not a Qantas special case, but exactly what the One World rules specify

Assuming you were charged the allowance for 1 extra piece for domestic travel , you have been charged exactly what was due

ermen

https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/sapphire-privileges

From here - seems like the OP is entitled to one extra baggage on a purely domestic itin?


Extra baggage allowance*

As a Sapphire frequent flyer the following special baggage privileges will apply when you fly on oneworld airlines.
On international or domestic itineraries using the baggage allowance "weight" system - 15 kgs in addition to the ticketed Economy baggage allowance.
On international or domestic itineraries using the baggage allowance "piece" system - one additional bag*, weighing up to 23 kgs, up to a maximum of two pieces.
* On purely domestic itineraries, using the baggage allowance "piece" system, with no ticketed baggage entitlement - the assurance of at least one piece of checked baggage, weighing up to 23 kgs.

Dave Noble

It looks like the baggage allowances page is different to the sapphire benefits page

The baggage allowance benefit page for Emerald and Sapphire now only indicates a minimum of 1 piece

See https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/extra-baggage-allowance which is indeed different to https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/sapphire-privileges

number_6

That's the Oneworld way; why have 1 policy when instead you can have 2 contradictory ones, and let airlines apply each randomly Seems to be the essence of Oneworld since its inception.

sxc

Actually my interpretation is that if a purely domestic itinerary you are guaranteed at least one bag in the hold. If that is granted as part of your ticket anyway, then you have that. If your ticket specifies no luggage then you get one bag as your benefit (unless a BA BASIC fare).

ozflygirl747

So the $64K question is how the third paragraph above is interpreted (my bolding). I added in the red "or domestic" bit as I believe this is how it should read as presently there is no scenario to cover a OWS member travelling on a wholly domestic QF flight that already includes one piece of luggage.

It talks about when you get zero baggage allowance you're entitled to at least (doesn't that mean more than one?) one bag up to 23 kilos however QF don't have any fares domestically that have zero baggage allowance ie every man and his dog are entitled to one piece not exceeding 23 kilos on a wholly domestic itinerary.

So does the above infer than when you do get one piece of luggage up to 23 kilos (ie the OP's case) that your OWS allowance would kick in and enable you to checkin a second bag up to 23 kilos?

It doesn't sound like the QF checkin system is programmed to recogize the complimentary extra piece of luggage and thereby checkin staff are going by 'computer says no.'

The best think you can do is take a copy of the print out from the QF website and argue the point at checkin but it sounds like they would need to 'waive' the 'excess' in order for the system to not charge you.

https://www.qantas.com/fflyer/dyn/fl...efits#oneworld

sxc

As I noted before, I believe the oneworld wording is just to tell OWS "You will always be able to check in at least one bag on a domestic itinerary". It doesn't mention anywhere that there will be "additional allowance", just "assurance of at least one piece of checked baggage".

So with QF on Domestic, there is no extra benefit. On AA where their domestic flights do not include baggage, you will get one bag for free.

On BA if you buy a hand baggage only fare, you don't get any benefit because that is specifically called out as an exception.

"At least one" actually means more than zero.

ozflygirl747

It seems odd that you get the extra 15 kg OWS allowance on itineraries based on the weight system yet not on domestic flights on the piece system. I would've though QF would either recognise every scenario or none at all.

It makes me wonder whether the T&C are just poorly worded and allowing an extra piece on wholly domestic flights was purely an oversight and OWS are in fact meant to get another bag.

sxc

Remember this is a OW rule, not a QF rule. But I also wonder if there are any OW airlines that allocate short haul based on weight anymore? I don't know all of the OW baggage rules, but some don't have domestic flights (QR, CX) and the others I can think of have domestic baggage on a piece system (maybe MH is an exception).