Qantas photo catches airline in 'unacceptable' act: 'I'd be fuming'

Qantas is conducting an urgent investigation into how travelling pets and passenger suitcases were left out in the rain for up to 30 minutes last week, after a woman snapped an image showing two trolley loads of belongings left sitting on the tarmac during the downpour.

The traveller said her luggage "came home wet" after she disembarked her flight at Sydney Airport, accusing Qantas of leaving bags and pets outdoors in the wet weather for up to half an hour on Friday, on a day when the city faced its highest daily rainfall in two years.

"Unfortunately the weather was unavoidable, but this luggage was left out in the open in Sydney for 30 mins and the animals for 15 minutes — one facing the rain," the woman wrote on social media.

Travellers call out Qantas' 'unacceptable' act

Another passenger also called out the airline, saying their luggage turned up soaked. "[I was on] on same flight, my luggage came home wet. Thinking a cover in these conditions would be nice," they wrote.

In the image, a handful of suitcases can be seen on the tarmac behind a Qantas plane, with another separate trolley seen in front of it carrying at least one pet in a crate.

Responding to the woman's post, Aussies called out what they describe as "unacceptable" behaviour from Qantas. "Those poor fur babies. I'd report this if I saw it after flying my little dude to and from New Zealand," one person said. "Should have brought this to the attention of ground crew ASAP."

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"I'm unimpressed by the luggage but those pet carriers out there is absolutely unacceptable," a man wrote. "I'd be fuming if my boy was stuck on the tarmac in a cage in torrential rain, making an already stressful situation even worse".

"Disgusting to leave those fur babies out in the rain. Almost animal abuse," another said.

However some defended the airline, saying that is simply "the risk you take when you fly your animals."

Qantas responds to viral photo

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, a Qantas spokeswoman confirmed the airline is looking into the matter and said the company "takes the safety and welfare of pets travelling with us very seriously".

"In weather conditions such as last Friday, we have a policy of keeping pets undercover until the very last moment that they need to leave the terminal to be loaded into the aircraft," the spokeswoman said.

Yahoo understands that Qantas also has a policy which allows customers to change pet bookings free of charge if extreme weather is expected, which was activated on Thursday ahead of Friday's forecast.

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