Traveller letters: Breastfeeding mother gets detained by customs over baby food in New Zealand

On a recent trip from Sydney to Lord Howe Island with QantasLink we became aware of major flaws in Qantas' baggage handling procedures with severe limitations on the weight that the small planes operating this route can carry.

On departure from Lord Howe at the end of our stay, all passengers with their carry-on bags were weighed along with their check-in bags – a procedure not uncommon at many airports in the world where small planes with weight restrictions are in use.

A number of passengers were then advised that particular items of check in may have to be loaded on a later flight as the plane was very full. They were asked to get anything out of those bags that they may need in the next 24 hours. Just prior to departure it was announced that all bags had indeed been loaded.

Sadly this procedure is not carried out when departing from Sydney. QantasLink makes an assumed measurement of passenger and carry-on bag weight, which for safety reasons is on the high side, and it would appear they regularly have to unload bags from the hold to hopefully follow on a later flight.

QantasLink appears not to enforce the 15-kilogram limit for check-in bags on this flight and do not advise passengers of the likelihood of their checked-in bags not arriving on the same flight as they are travelling on.

I know I would most certainly rather be weighed with my bag at the departure gate and arrive with my luggage than the alternative, which in our case was my bag arriving 24 hours late and my husband's bag vanishing for 18 days – an avoidable outcome good for neither the airline or the passenger. Get the scales out, Qantas.

Sue Swanson, Hunters Hill, NSW

GET RAIL

In regards to Dianne Tiffin's bad and expensive travel day on Alitalia from Bologna to Geneva (Traveller letters, January 12), there's a train between these two cities that takes six hours and 18 minutes, including a one-hour stopover in Milan.

That beats most flight options and costs about $220 in economy. You depart (and arrive) in the middle of town, your luggage stays with you, and it's a relaxing and scenic journey.

In Europe, give me trains before planes most days.

Chris Birch, Surrey Hills, VIC

TAKE COVER

Why don't airlines insure themselves to cover the costs of cancelled or delayed flights and failure to meet reasonable customer expectations? Most travellers insure themselves – so should airlines.

David Bishop, East Brighton, VIC

EARLY BIRDS

Travelling in Sri Lanka with friends, we all enjoyed, or endured, the Jeep safari of Yala National Park, appreciating the wildlife we glimpsed but also regretting the throngs of vehicles at popular sighting spots.

It's at its worst approaching the park closing time, when the road out was a continuous line of crawling, fume-belching vehicles.

On speaking to our guide he suggested an additional trip the following morning to a nearby coastal bird sanctuary. What a contrast. Up before dawn with a picnic lunch from our hotel, we drove through the park gates as the sky was becoming light.

We transferred to the park vehicle with our ranger and drove a short distance to the sea, where, as the sun rose, we ate our breakfast on a cliff overlooking a small beach where two fishermen prepared a boat and green turtles swam.

We then spent a leisurely couple of hours slowly wending through the park with myriad bird life on display among the foliage and the many pools and waterways.

During the entire trip I think we saw maybe three other vehicles, all at a distance, and only came to a sudden stop once when a mother wild pig and her litter of tiny, striped babies wandered across our path.

Alison Garth, Fairfield, VIC

SLEEP IN

I have a feeling that Julie Reid (Traveller letters, January 12) has misread the Qantas timetable for QF9/QF10 as QF9 departs Melbourne at the perfectly civilised time of 5pm and not 5am as she mentioned.

The return flight from London leaves at around noon London time. If she does want to fly via Qantas, she also has the option of flying via Singapore, where she can travel on QF35 and then connect with QF1 to London.

Peter Craddy, Narangba, QLD

BREAKING SNOOZE

Thank you, Catherine Marshall, for your insightful comments about blissful Nirvana at 30,000 feet (Traveller, "The art of sleeping on planes", January 12). I can't wait for my next flight for confirmation of Catherine's recommendations (and Jamie Brown's illustration was great too).

Alison Stewart, Waitara, NSW

TIGER TALE

The letter from Caroll Casey (Traveller letters, January 5) regarding her experience with Jetstar, begs the question as to what is going on with our domestic airlines?

Our two daughters and one son flew Perth to Sydney with Tigerair for Christmas. On their return date of December 28 they were advised just 20 minutes before departure that the flight was cancelled. No explanation and no assistance was offered.

Tigerair is a subsidiary of Virgin Australia, which had the next available flight to Perth. Why were they not transferred to this flight using the same return tickets?

Some research on the internet reveals that this last minute cancellation of flights is not uncommon, with inconvenienced passengers having to fend for themselves.

Overnight accommodation plus full-priced tickets cost our daughters more than $1000 and they have to now fight for any available refunds. This appears to be a cynical manipulation of flights to suit the airline at the expense of the consumer. Once again the almighty dollar triumphs over service.

Ramon Jones, Carcoar, NSW

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